Paul Pogba on Michael Carrick's Role at Manchester United

Paul Pogba has seen enough of Manchester United’s false dawns to choose his words carefully. This time, he didn’t. Asked about the club’s decision to hand Michael Carrick the job on a permanent basis, the former United midfielder didn’t hedge or hesitate.

“I think he’s doing a great job,” he told Sky Sports, before doubling down on a theme that will echo strongly around Old Trafford: this feels different.

From drift to direction

United’s 2025/26 campaign did not begin like a season that would end with optimism and a return to the Champions League. Under Ruben Amorim, the football stuttered, the results wobbled and the mood around the club dipped back into that familiar mix of frustration and fatigue. Uncertainty hung over the dugout and, by extension, over the dressing room.

The change came at the turn of the year. Amorim was dismissed and Carrick, long admired within the club, stepped out of the shadows and into the line of fire. Officially, he arrived as an interim. In reality, he walked into an audition that would define United’s short‑term future.

He did not waste time.

Across 17 Premier League matches, Carrick’s United collected 12 wins, three draws and just two defeats. The numbers told one story. The football told another. United pushed higher, pressed harder, and attacked with a conviction that had been missing for far too long. The approach was front-footed, unapologetic, and crucially, it connected with the crowd.

For the first time in years, Old Trafford felt aligned: players, manager, supporters all pulling in the same direction. Third place and a long-awaited return to the Champions League were not just statistical achievements; they were markers of a club that finally looked like it knew what it wanted to be.

Carrick’s touch, Pogba’s nod

Inside the building, United insisted they would not be rushed. The line from the hierarchy was clear: no knee-jerk reactions, no emotional appointments, a full survey of the managerial market before any decision. Yet week by week, as performances sharpened and results stacked up, it became obvious that the job was Carrick’s to lose. Last month, the club made it official.

Pogba, who played 233 times for United across two spells and knows Carrick both as a teammate and as a coach, didn’t just offer polite approval. He framed Carrick’s rise as a continuation of work that had already begun behind the scenes.

“I think he’s doing a great job and he did it also at the time when he was the assistant of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer,” Pogba said. That line matters. It points to a continuity of ideas, to a coach who has been absorbing, learning and shaping rather than simply inheriting the role by default.

“He’s a great guy, he has experience, he was a great player, and he has a very good connection with the players, you could see it when he took the team.”

Those who worked with Carrick often talk about that connection: the calm authority, the clarity of instruction, the ability to translate his playing intelligence into something a modern squad can follow. Pogba’s comments only reinforce that image. This is not a distant tactician; this is a manager players want to run for.

A new standard to meet

“I think it’s going to be good for United,” Pogba added, before offering a simple, pointed send-off: “I wish them the best, obviously, for him and all the staff and the players.”

There was no bitterness, no sideways swipe, just a recognition that United have finally made a decision that aligns with both logic and emotion. Carrick has earned the role not through nostalgia, but through results and a clear identity on the pitch.

The challenge now is stark. With Champions League football secured after a two-year absence and optimism finally back in the stands, the margin for error shrinks. A strong summer transfer window will be demanded, not requested. The attacking, front-foot style that reignited the club must now be sustained under the harsher glare of Europe’s elite.

Carrick has turned an interim chance into a mandate. Pogba, watching from the outside, believes United have chosen well.

The question now is simple: can Carrick turn this promising surge into the new normal at Old Trafford?