Michael Carrick acknowledged clarity of his Manchester United future is important but is staying relaxed about the subject, adding that some discussions around it are “out of my hands”.
Carrick has enjoyed an outstanding spell as interim boss since taking over from Ruben Amorim on January 17.
United have collected 32 points since his arrival, the most of any team in the Premier League, with last Sunday’s 3-2 win over Liverpool securing Champions League football for next season.
But United have still yet to confirm whether Carrick will be their permanent manager going forward, with the likes of Andoni Iraola and Oliver Glasner set to become available come the end of the season when they leave Bournemouth and Crystal Palace respectively.
Manchester United boss on future: ‘We’ll see what happens’
United face Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Saturday and, in his pre-match press conference, Carrick was predictably asked about his future.
“Clarity is important, moving forward. It’s come at a time, at the end of the season where we’ve finished strong, put ourselves in a good position,” said Carrick. “The situation of my role and what it looks like moving forward, I think is just natural timing. It’s always spoke about towards the end of the season, if not the end of the season, nothing has really changed to be honest.”
“We’ve got eyes on finishing the season strongly. I understand the question, I understand the timing of it, from my point, at this stage, it’s putting the boys in place to finish the season strongly.
As I’ve said all along, it will get sorted out when it gets sorted out. Some of it is out of my hands so we will see what happens.”
Quizzed on whether he would work any differently if he were confirmed as permanent manager, Carrick replied: “I’ve said from the start I’ve never approached a day here, in terms of any short-term decisions. Whether that is different to the outlook from others, I don’t know.
“From mine and the staff, we’ve made decisions for the long-term, for the group and individually as players, in how we treat them and try to help develop them in the squad. I don’t think we would change the approach for how I go about things.
“Again, I understand that it might be for the people looking towards me maybe or towards us, whether that’s players, whether that’s supporters as well. I don’t know how that changes, but maybe we’ll get to see. But certainly, from my point of view, I think I’ve done it in a way that I feel is the right way to do.”
