Man Utd had a tough decision to make when they chose their new head coach until the end of the season.
United considered both former players, along with Ruud van Nistelrooy, to take charge of the club until the end of the season after they sacked Ruben Amorim. The plan has always been to appoint a short-term solution until the summer, when they plan to hire a permanent successor to Amorim.
Club sources claim they spoke to 'three excellent candidates' for the head coach role, but Carrick was the 'unanimous choice' to take charge for the rest of the season. It is understood Solskjaer was genuinely happy for his former teammate and coaching colleaguewhen he was given the head coach role, and Carrick has lifted the lid on their close friendship, despite the fact he beat him to the job he wanted himself.
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What Solskjaer told Carrick
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer kept Michael Carrick on as part of his coaching staff when he was appointed Manchester United caretaker coach in December 2021, and the pair have remained ever close even when they both left the club.
Solskjaer and Carrick were the two frontrunners to take charge of United until the end of the season, and the Norwegian messaged his close friend to 'wish him all the best' when he won the race for the job.
Speaking in the embargoed section of his press conference before the trip to face Arsenal this weekend, Carrick told reporters: "Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I spoke to him. I'm close, we've been through a lot together, so he's been fully supportive and as you'd expect, you know. He's some man and I respect him an awful lot, so yeah, he wished us all the best and he was happy that we got the right result."
When asked if he would ask Solskjaer for advice while he was in the United hot seat, Carrick added: "I think friendships, you have conversations, I've got a lot of friends in places that I can kind of pick on if I need to be. I'm not one that bothers a lot of people, to be honest. But he's certainly there if ever I need him."
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