Manchester United officially announced that Ruben Amorim has stepped down from his position as the club's manager, with Darren Fletcher named as the interim boss.
Manchester United’s current decision is to appoint a caretaker manager. Therefore, despite swirling rumors, the club has immediately ruled out the possibility of appointing a permanent manager at this stage. United also has no intention of pursuing other candidates (such as Enzo Maresca) for the time being, because the process of selecting a full-time, high-profile manager will take place next summer, ahead of the summer transfer window. So this is something we will have to wait for. The club will take multiple factors into account, hold talks with several managers and communicate with their representatives. United will launch a lengthy process to determine the right candidate to lead the project at Old Trafford following Ruben Amorim’s departure.
But the news we have tonight is that Manchester United is ready to appoint a new caretaker manager to lead the team until the end of the season. In the past 12 hours, we can confirm that significant progress has been made in the negotiations between Michael Carrick and Manchester United. Both Michael Carrick and another leading candidate, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, have undergone face-to-face interviews. These two have been the frontrunners for the United job over the past five or six days. And in the past 24 hours, Carrick has indeed emerged as the leading choice for the caretaker role.
It is understood that the meetings between Manchester United’s management and Carrick have been extremely positive in terms of ideas, tactics, communication and intentions. The vibe during the discussions has been very good. We are awaiting an official announcement, but as of tonight, we can say that United has made major headway in its talks with Carrick over the weekend.
Carrick is extremely eager for this opportunity. As a coach in recent years, he has been doing important work, growing a great deal, learning a lot, making significant progress and working extremely hard. He is someone who understands the club, both as a player and a member of staff. Clearly, Carrick knows Manchester United inside out, and that is exactly what the club needs during this difficult period. As I said, the same applies to Solskjaer. United wants someone who knows the club, understands the atmosphere and will be well-received at Old Trafford. This has always been their objective.
Then, if Carrick is appointed as caretaker manager and delivers significant results at United, he will obviously have a chance to stay on in a permanent capacity at the end of the season. But United will not put its full-time manager search on hold to wait and see how the caretaker performs. The club will immediately kick off the process of identifying its preferred targets, drawing up a shortlist of two or three ideal candidates, before then assessing the caretaker’s situation. Carrick is well aware of this.
