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Michael Carrick is demonstrating the value of round pegs in round holes and asking players to do what they can do best.
Manchester United have won all three of their Premier League matches since the former Red Devils midfielder returned as interim head coach, scoring eight goals and climbing into the Champions League places.
Manchester United exile could return if Carrick gets the gig
Amorim’s second and final transfer window was dominated by desired outgoings as well as expensive new signings Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko, all of whom are beginning to thrive on Carrick’s watch.
Amorim was forthright about the players he didn’t want and mostly got his way. Jadon Sancho is on loan at Aston Villa, where Marcus Rashford ended last season. Meanwhile, the England forward is now at Barcelona. Antony was sold to Real Betis, Alejandro Garnacho to Chelsea. Of Manchester United’s so-called ‘bomb squad’ only Tyrell Malacia remained.
It’s apparent there’s no way back for Sancho but Carrick is reportedly eager to welcome Rashford back into the fold should he be installed as permanent head coach in the summer.
“If Michael Carrick is retained as United’s head coach beyond this season, then he would like his former team-mate back,” reports Jason Burt in The Telegraph.
“It is hard to see that happening… Such was United’s desire to ship Rashford out, and presumably off their wage bill, that they did not insert a clause in the deal allowing them to recall him in the January window.”
Burt writes that both Rashford and Barcelona are ‘happy’ and that Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick is ‘keen to activate’ the £26 million option to buy at the end of the season.
With nine goals and 12 assists already this season, Rashford, who is ranked at no.10 in FourFourTwo's list of the best left-wingers in the world right now, looks every inch a player getting back on track. At 28, he’s got years of football still ahead of him and plenty left to offer at the top level.
“[Rotation] is a situation Rashford accepts,” reports Burt. “The excellent man management of Flick, often seen with his arm around him offering encouragement, is a big factor in that.”
So positive is Rashford’s experience in Spain that it’s hard to see why he’d be drawn to home but some people, some players, just are.
It would be understandable if Rashford felt he had unfinished business at Old Trafford, given some of Amorim’s comments about him and the way he eventually left the club.
Carrick and Manchester United face the head coach’s former club, Tottenham Hotspur, in the Premier League’s Saturday lunchtime kick-off this weekend.
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