Two prominent journalists have criticised Manchester United chiefs Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox for how they handled Michael Carrick's departure as manager.
Wilcox, the club's director of football, and Berrada, the CEO, communicated their decision to sack Carrick to Sir Jim Ratcliffe during a meeting in Monaco on Wednesday. The axe fell on Thursday morning, with an agreement to appoint Mauricio Pochettino as Carrick's successor already in place.
United will pay US Soccer $10m via a release clause to secure Pochettino, with the cost of hiring his staff adding a further $2m to the bill.
According to the report, while INEOS were working on Carrick's dismissal over the past few days, the outgoing manager continued to take training sessions for United players not away on international duty, despite reportedly being a 'dead man walking'.
The Athletic's Laurie Whitwell wrote on X: "Michael Carrick knows the industry but for #MUFC leaders to let him take training two days running while clearly working on his dismissal, with no real communication, is poor treatment. Carrick served United superbly as a player + worked diligently as head coach. Deserves better."
Fabrizio Romano offered a rare personal opinion on YouTube, saying: "Personal opinion: It's sad sad to see Man United treating Michael Carrick like this. Two training sessions taken by Michael Carrick when he was already almost out of Manchester United."
Romano added: "Also, Carrick, I think you can like or don't like him as a coach. You can have a positive or negative opinion, whatever. But Carrick did a very great job last season with Manchester United. This season has been very difficult for everyone, not just for Carrick, also for the players, the directors, the market. So, it's been a very difficult season for United, but you can't forget what he did and also he's a United legend. So, to see these scenes every morning of Carrick arriving to the training, taking the training when at the same time the directors and the owners are already talking to their new manager, you know, it feels not great, let's say like this."
The report also noted that problem positions such as left-back and striker were not addressed in the transfer market under Carrick, with emphasis instead placed on a midfield rebuild. Rather than signing what the report described as transformative players like Elliot Anderson, United moved for Andrey Santos, Youri Tielemans and Carlos Baleba, with reports subsequently suggesting Chelsea believe United paid twice as much as necessary for Santos.
