Paul Pogba Supports Michael Carrick's Manchester United Revival
Paul Pogba has seen enough of Manchester United’s latest revival to make his mind up. From a distance, the former midfielder has watched Michael Carrick steady the club he once called home – and he believes the Old Trafford hierarchy have finally made the right call.
Carrick turns chaos into clarity
United’s 2025/26 campaign did not begin like a season that would end with Champions League football. Under Ruben Amorim, performances veered between flat and frantic, the identity unclear, the results unconvincing. Uncertainty hung over the club, the kind that has become all too familiar in recent years.
That changed when Carrick stepped in.
Initially handed the reins on an interim basis at the start of the year, the former United captain walked into a dressing room short on belief and a fanbase short on patience. He responded with clarity and aggression. United pushed higher, passed quicker, attacked with intent. The football had a purpose again.
The numbers tell their own story. Across 17 Premier League games, Carrick’s United collected 12 wins, three draws and only two defeats. That surge dragged the club up the table and locked in a third-place finish, ending a two-year exile from the Champions League. For a club of United’s stature, it felt less like overachievement and more like long-overdue course correction.
The mood around Old Trafford shifted with it. The gloom that had settled over the Stretford End lifted, replaced by something that had been missing for too long: genuine optimism.
A job that was Carrick’s to lose
Publicly, United insisted they would not be rushed. The message from the boardroom was that no “knee-jerk” decision would be made, that every suitable candidate would be weighed before a permanent appointment. On the pitch, Carrick made that process feel like a formality.
His connection with the squad showed in the way players responded to him, and in the way the team played. His stature as a club legend helped, but it was the football – front-foot, assertive, ambitious – that truly made the case.
By the time the season drew to a close, the sense was unmistakable: the job was Carrick’s to lose. Last month, the club finally confirmed what most had already assumed. The interim tag disappeared. Carrick was in, permanently.
Pogba’s seal of approval
From his vantage point, Paul Pogba did not hesitate to back the decision. Speaking to Sky Sports, the Frenchman was clear and unequivocal in his support.
“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, drawing a line between Carrick’s earlier influence on the coaching staff and his current impact as the main man.
“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.”
That bond, in Pogba’s eyes, is central to what comes next.
“I think it’s going to be good for United,” he added. “I wish them the best, obviously, for him and all the staff and the players.”
Pogba’s words carry a certain weight. Across two spells at Old Trafford, he made 233 appearances, living through managerial upheaval, tactical resets and the constant pressure that comes with wearing United’s shirt. He knows how fragile momentum can be, and how rare it is to find a manager who can align dressing room, touchline and stands.
Now United stand at another crossroads, but this time with Champions League football secured, a clear style taking shape and a manager the players believe in. If the club backs Carrick with a sharp summer window, the question shifts from whether United are finally heading in the right direction to how far, and how fast, they can go under one of their own.
