Michael Carrick backed to become Man Utd manager as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer reveals what he said to former assistant on the day he was sacked

• Solskjaer said Carrick has quality to be future United manager
• He praised his old assistant's knowledge and people skills
• Carrick has taken Middlesbrough to Championship play-offs

WHAT HAPPENED? Solskjaer has tipped Carrick to become Manchester United manager in the future after a successful first season in charge of Middlesbrough. Carrick became United's interim head coach when Solskjaer was sacked in November 2021 before parting ways with the club when Ralf Rangnick took over. He has taken Middlesbrough to the Championship play-offs and has a shot at taking them back to the Premier League.

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WHAT THEY SAID: “Michael is a man of value and principles, a big family man, but his knowledge is also second to none. He’s had Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho as managers, and he’s played with the best players in the world. He’s a winner but he’s still in control of his emotions. I cannot see him not being the Manchester United manager," Solskjaer said in an interview with The Athletic. “At United, I’d sometimes see Michael talk to the players. Some of these were ex-team-mates of his which isn’t easy, but he had an authority about him. I am 100 per cent sure that Michael will be the manager of Manchester United if he wants to be."

THE BIGGER PICTURE: Solskjaer also revealed that Carrick was set to take charge of United for the rest of last season, but after 10 days turned the offer down out of loyalty to the Norwegian. “I love him as a person, but while he never said anything to me about it, the day I got booted, I went to see him and said: ‘I’m gone, they want you to take over.’ I told him that I wanted him to do it. After ten days, Michael came to me and said: ‘I don’t want to do this.’ We were in it together and we were no longer together," Solskjaer added. "I took that as a compliment because I had the utmost respect for him. If you see the interview I did when I left the club, I got emotional when I started talking about Michael. That’s when I got really emotional. We don’t spend too many hours in our private lives together but it was pure respect for him."

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AND WHAT'S MORE: Carrick is not the only member of Solskjaer's staff to have gone on to have success since leaving United. Kieran McKenna has inspired Ipswich to promotion from League One to the Championship and Neil Wood has taken Salford City to the League Two play-offs.

WHAT NEXT? Carrick's Middlesbrough face Coventry in the play-off semi-final first leg on Sunday. United, meanwhile, host Wolves on Saturday hoping to get their bid to finish in the Premier League's top-four back on track under Erik ten Hag after consecutive defeats to Brighton and West Ham.