Michael Carrick is expected to be recommended to Sir Jim Ratcliffe as the permanent manager of Manchester United, with senior club figures due to tell the British billionaire this week that the 44-year-old is their choice for the job.
Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox have both concluded that Carrick is the right man to lead the club and, if Ratcliffe agrees, United will begin formal talks with the former midfielder. Carrick, who played 463 times for the club, has been viewed as the favourite since he helped secure qualification for next season’s Champions League.
United had intended to wait until the end of the season before deciding on a successor to Ruben Amorim, but Carrick’s run has made that timeline harder to hold. He has won 10 of his 15 matches in charge and lost twice, guiding the side from seventh to third in the Premier League while collecting 33 points since his appointment on 13 January.
The turnaround has been built on results that changed the mood at Old Trafford. Carrick won each of his first four matches, put together a seven-game unbeaten run and oversaw victories over Manchester City and Arsenal. Although that streak ended in March, subsequent wins over Aston Villa, Chelsea and Liverpool helped seal a return to the Champions League.
His rise has also revived the memory of his brief spell in charge in 2021, when he was handed a three-game stint as United’s temporary boss after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was dismissed. Internally, Carrick has been praised for his commitment to the club’s youth development programme, and he has also been involved in discussions about recruitment.
The case for promotion is straightforward: Carrick has done the job in front of him better than expected, and he has done it in a period when United were unsettled and struggling with results and disagreement over tactics and formation. The club has looked at other options, including Thomas Tuchel and Luis Enrique, but neither was expected to leave their current posts.
United’s season still has two fixtures to go, with Nottingham Forest due at Old Trafford on Sunday, 17 May, before the campaign ends away to Brighton on 24 May. But the direction of travel is already clear, and manchester united michael carrick now looks set to be the name Ratcliffe is asked to back.
