Pogba Supports Carrick for Manchester United Revival

Paul Pogba has never been shy about his opinions on Manchester United. This time, though, his message is simple and emphatic: keeping Michael Carrick was the right call.

The former United midfielder, who made 233 appearances across two spells at Old Trafford, has thrown his support behind his old team-mate after a season that finally gave the club something they have been starved of: direction.

From uncertainty to authority

The 2025/26 campaign did not begin like a season that would end in optimism. Under Ruben Amorim, United lurched between ideas and identities, drifting through the first half of the year in a haze of inconsistency. Performances stuttered, doubts grew, and the club’s two-year exile from the Champions League loomed as a symbol of their slide.

The hierarchy acted. Amorim was dismissed, and in stepped Carrick at the turn of the year, first as a stopgap, a familiar face asked to steady the ship rather than reshape it.

He did both.

Across 17 Premier League games, Carrick stitched together a run that changed the mood and the maths: 12 wins, three draws, just two defeats. United surged up the table, finished third, and punched their ticket back into the Champions League. The numbers were strong, but the feeling around Old Trafford was stronger.

Carrick didn’t just collect points; he changed the way United played. He pushed the team onto the front foot, encouraged them to attack, to press, to take initiative rather than react. The football carried a sense of purpose that had been missing. Supporters recognised it. So did the dressing room.

By spring, the idea that United might look elsewhere for a permanent manager felt almost academic. The club publicly insisted there would be no rush, no emotional, short-term decision. Behind that line, though, Carrick was clearly in control of his own destiny. The job was his to lose. He never came close to losing it.

Last month, the inevitable became official: Michael Carrick, permanent Manchester United manager.

Pogba’s seal of approval

From the outside, Pogba has watched a familiar figure step into the heat of the Old Trafford spotlight and thrive. Speaking to Sky Sports in a brief interview, the World Cup winner made his stance clear.

“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 quieter influence during a previous era.

“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 connection has become one of the defining features of Carrick’s early reign. The former midfielder, who spent more than a decade in United’s engine room, understands the demands of the club and the pressures that come with the shirt. Crucially, he seems able to translate that into something modern players respond to.

Pogba’s verdict was succinct but loaded with belief.

“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.”

For a club that has cycled through managers and philosophies since the end of the Sir Alex Ferguson era, that kind of calm, external endorsement from a high-profile former player is not insignificant. Pogba knows the turbulence, the expectations, the scrutiny. He also knows Carrick, the team-mate and the coach.

The optimism around Old Trafford now rests on whether Carrick can turn this promising half-season into something more substantial. Champions League football is back. The style of play has a sharper edge. The summer transfer window looms as the next major test.

United finally look like a club with a plan. Now they have a manager, and a dressing room, that must prove this resurgence is more than just a mid-season spark.