Carrick comments suggest he’ll ‘build around’ Man Utd star Amorim kicked to the kerb

Prior comments made by Michael Carrick strongly suggest he’ll make a painfully under-used Manchester United star a focal point in his team.

Carrick is the man the Red Devils have chosen to take interim charge and see out the season. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had initially been favoured, but Carrick wowed Man Utd bosses in his interview and ultimately got the nod.

Our insider, Fraser Fletcher, has revealed how Carrick wants to earn the role on a long-term basis , and the coming months will be crucial in that regard.

Carrick primarily played a 4-2-3-1 formation during his impressive yet flawed spell with Middlesbrough.

As such, the expectation is Bruno Fernandes will revert to a more advanced role in the attack, freeing up one of the two midfield spots.

And if comments made by Carrick when previously interviewed by Rio Ferdinand in mid-2025 are anything to go by, one of those two spots could be Kobbie Mainoo’s to lose.

That would be a godsend for the academy graduate whose career at Old Trafford was going nowhere under former boss Ruben Amorim.

Indeed, Mainoo had not started a single Premier League match under the Portuguese this season. He requested a loan exit last summer – which was denied – and was primed to ask again in the winter window.

But Amorim’s dismissal has provided Mainoo with a direct pathway back into prominence at Man Utd and Carrick certainly appears to believe in the player.

Ferdinand asked Carrick: “Who would you build around in this current team in the midfield area? Would he (Mainoo) he one you’d build around?”

Carrick replied : “Yeah, I think for a club to have a player who’s come through the academy and knows the club and feels it, I think Man Utd has to have an element of that. Always has done, should always have.

“I think to have a talent like he’s shown already, you’ve got to have players like that, that you can say ‘they get it, they know it.’

“Let’s help them, let’s build [with] them, and let’s stick with them. There’s definitely a place for him there, for sure.”

Carrick’s first match in charge will be the Manchester derby in the Saturday lunchtime kick-off.

During Mainoo’s remarkable early rise in Manchester, he famously scored what would turn out to be the winning goal in the FA Cup final back in 2024. United’s opponents on that day? Man City.

In other news, Man Utd are ready to back Carrick with an impressive January signing , though a second target is edging closer to joining rivals Manchester City.