Jose Mourinho tips retiring Manchester United star Michael Carrick to fill void left by Rui Faria

Retirement | Michael Carrick is hanging up his boots this summer
John Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images

Jose Mourinho says he will not be appointing a new assistant manager at Manchester United next season because he believes Michael Carrick can take on the role in the long term.

Carrick, 36, is calling time on his playing career this summer and is set to be offered a place on Mourinho's coaching staff.

The United coach's long-term assistant, Rui Faria, confirmed his intentions this week to leave the club following a 17-year spell working with Mourinho.

But the United boss said he won't be hiring a replacement for Faria just yet because, in part, he thinks Carrick will become good enough as a coach to become the Red Devils' assistant manager in the coming years.

"[There will be] no number two," Mourinho told reporters following United's 1-0 win over Watford. "Moving forward, I will organise my coaching staff in a way where the assistant manager figure doesn’t exist.

"I’m going to have coaches, assistant coaches, fitness coaches and a structure where we have specialists in different areas, connected to the performance by analysts. I’m not going to have an assistant manager in the sense of the word.

"The particular reason is that I think it will be Michael Carrick in the future, when he has his badges and his pro licence, when he makes the bridge from a player to an assistant.

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"People think it’s just like ‘one day I am a player, the next day I am a coach’ and it’s not like that. The brain can be ready for that but then you need the practice, the decision-making, the control, the leadership, the work in groups."

He added: "I don’t think it makes sense when Rui is leaving after 17 years. I have nobody in the world of football to be my assistant manager – nobody,” he explained.

"I am going to improve my staffing in the performance level in relation to the fitness and the relation with the tactical work. So I’m going to bring some people in."

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