Amad Diallo believes Manchester United already have their next long-term manager – and he is standing in the dugout right now.
Michael Carrick, handed the reins only until the end of the season in January, has dragged United up to third in the Premier League and into pole position for a return to the Champions League. What began as a stopgap has quickly turned into a compelling audition.
Players rally behind Carrick
United’s hierarchy moved swiftly to sack Ruben Amorim at the start of the year, intending to buy themselves time before committing to a permanent successor. Carrick was supposed to be the calm caretaker while the club scoured the market.
Instead, he has become the story.
Speaking at the club’s training camp in Dublin, Amad made it clear where the dressing room stands.
“Obviously it’s not for us as a player to decide, but he’s been very great, he’s been doing so much for the team,” Amad said. “He has a lot of experience, he knows the club and has the DNA. We think he’s the right man. We are really happy for what he is doing right now.”
That “DNA” line will not be lost on supporters or decision-makers. Carrick, a former United captain and serial title-winner at Old Trafford, has leaned on his understanding of the club’s demands and expectations. The results have followed.
Since stepping in, he has sharpened United’s structure, coaxed form from underperforming players and restored a sense of direction. The message to the squad has been uncompromising.
“Since he’s arrived he’s been clear to everyone that he wants to win, he wants to reach the Champions League next season, and he’s been working with each player so he’s doing very well and we are really happy to have him as a manager,” Amad added. “Sometimes this kind of manager can bring the club where they belong. From a personal view he’s the right man but it’s not the players who decide.”
There is the key tension. The players are all in. The final call lies elsewhere.
“He knows the journey of the club”
Amad is not alone. Bryan Mbeumo echoed the sentiment from inside a squad that has responded to Carrick’s methods and his manner.
“We’ve got good experience with him, playing under him as well. It’s not for us to decide but we going to try to take as much as we can from him,” Mbeumo said.
The respect is rooted in familiarity. Carrick’s years at United, first on the pitch and now on the touchline, give him a natural authority that goes beyond job title.
“He knows the journey of the club, he knows how to talk to us as well, I think it’s been easier because he know the place so he has been great to work with,” Mbeumo continued. “I think the club will decide at the end of the season, but my honest opinion is we’re really happy to have Michael Carrick as a manager and he’s doing well.”
That is as close as players come to a public endorsement of a manager’s long-term claim. No lobbying, no demands – just a clear, consistent message: this is working.
United wanted time and space to think after Amorim’s exit. Carrick has used that same window to build a case on the pitch. If he delivers Champions League football from a season that threatened to unravel, the question for the board will be simple:
How do you look past the man who has already started to put the club back where, in their players’ eyes, it belongs?
