Pogba Supports Carrick as Manchester United Manager

Paul Pogba has never been shy of an opinion on Manchester United. This time, though, there was no controversy, no sting – only a clear endorsement of the man now trusted to lead the club’s revival.

The former United midfielder has given his backing to Michael Carrick after the club confirmed the Old Trafford great as permanent manager on the back of a resurgent 2025/26 campaign.

From uncertainty to belief

United’s season did not begin like one that would end in celebration. Under Ruben Amorim, the team lurched between ideas and identities, stumbling through the first half of the campaign. Performances drifted, results followed, and the sense of drift became impossible to ignore.

The hierarchy acted. Amorim was dismissed at the turn of the year and Carrick, initially handed the reins on an interim basis, walked back into a dressing room he knew well and a club that had been searching for itself.

The impact was immediate.

Across 17 Premier League matches, Carrick delivered 12 wins, three draws and only two defeats. United climbed, then surged, into third place and punched their ticket back into the Champions League after a two-year exile. Old Trafford, restless and sceptical for so long, felt something it had almost forgotten: momentum.

Carrick did it his way. He pushed the team higher up the pitch, encouraged an aggressive, front-footed style and leaned into the attacking instincts that have always defined the club at its best. The players responded, the crowd followed, and the noise around the manager’s future grew louder with every passing week.

United insisted they would not be rushed, that they would survey all “available and suitable options” before committing. On the pitch, the answer played out in real time. The job, as many around the club quietly admitted, was Carrick’s to lose. Last month, the club finally removed the doubt and confirmed him as permanent manager.

Pogba’s seal of approval

From a distance, Pogba has watched the shift and liked what he has seen.

Speaking to Sky Sports, the World Cup winner offered a firm verdict on United’s decision to keep Carrick in charge.

“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, pointing back to Carrick’s earlier spell on the coaching staff.

“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.”

For Pogba, that bond between manager and squad could prove decisive.

“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 knows the weight of that shirt and the volatility of that environment as well as anyone. Across two spells, he made 233 appearances for United, living through title chases, trophy wins, and the turbulence that followed Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure.

Now, from the outside looking in, he sees a familiar face trying to restore a familiar standard.

Carrick has already changed the mood. The next test is harsher: sustaining it, strengthening it, and turning a promising spring into a full-scale resurgence, one transfer window and one season at a time.