Sir Jim Ratcliffe has praised Michael Carrick’s performance as Manchester United’s caretaker manager, but declined to say whether he would take over as Manchester United’s manager permanently at the end of the season. The 44-year-old was appointed caretaker manager until the end of the campaign earlier this year, following the sacking of Ruben Amorim.
Carrick has won six of his last eight games and there are inevitable questions about his future at Old Trafford. Co-owner Ratcliffe, who is currently in Shanghai with Mercedes for the Chinese Grand Prix, spoke about the situation in an unscheduled interview after F1 qualifying.
“He’s doing a great job,” he told Sky Sports. Asked if Mr Carrick would win a permanent appointment if results continued, he replied with a smile: “I’m not going there.” As for qualifying for next season’s Champions League, he said: “Obviously we’re thinking about that, but we still have seven or eight games to go.”
As Ratcliffe rightly observed, although United are in an advantageous position, there are still plenty of points to be won. Manchester City and Arsenal are currently the only teams ahead of United in the table, level with weekend opponents Aston Villa on 51 points.
Unai Emery’s side were comfortably in third place, but a poor performance saw them drop one place ahead of their trip to Old Trafford. Carrick has enjoyed the luxury of a fully fit squad for most of his tenure, although injury concerns have increased in recent weeks.
Lisandro Martínez, Patrick Dorg and Matthijs de Ligt are currently sidelined, but there remain some doubts about Nouser Mazraoui. However, Carrick could confirm that Mason Mount’s return is on the horizon.
He said on Friday: “Mason is back in the group, which is great. He’s not 100 per cent, he’s only trained with us for a short time, but he’s back and that’s good for us. So we’ll see if he gets involved.”
Villa also received an encouraging injury update, with skipper John McGinn returning to action after two months out for their Europa League last-16 first-leg win at Lille. Emery is still without key players with Matty Cash, Boubacar Kamara and Youri Tielemans injured, with Jadon Sancho ineligible to play against his parent club.
