Carrick says Bruno Fernandes is 'really intelligent footballer' who 'cares' about Man Utd

Michael Carrick says that Bruno Fernandes is a "really intelligent footballer" after the Manchester United captain said he could be a "great manager".

There is clearly a lot of respect between the interim boss and Fernandes with their comments ahead of the clash against West Ham United on Tuesday.

United are now seeking a fifth straight win which is something inconceivable before Christmas.

After the latest win over Tottenham, Fernandes looked back also to the previous spell when Carrick had taken over following the sacking of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in late 2021.

Fernandes still remembers telling Carrick he could “be a great manager” and says “he is just showing it” in this role for the remainder of the season.

And Carrick responded in a pre-match press conference: “I’ve got a really good relationship with him.

“I understand how much he’s a really intelligent footballer. He’s bright, he cares a lot for this club, so in terms of that side of it we all want the same thing.

“It’s obviously nice when players that you respect – as I do with Bruno, a lot – says good things about you but ultimately it’s about the team, getting the best out of the team and actually that’s all working together.

“So, time will tell. It’s not about judging how good or successful at this moment in time because nothing’s really happened yet. We’ve hopefully got a lot more to do between now and the end of the season and then see what happens after that.”

United head to 18th-placed West Ham as firm favourites but Carrick is not one to get ahead of himself and pointed to the threat of Nuno Espirito Santo’s side.

“They’re very good on transition, very dangerous, got some really good attacking place,” he said ahead of a match Mason Mount, Matthijs de Ligt and Patrick Dorgu remain absent for.

“We’ve looked at them already and kind of have an idea of that, as they would have done for us.

“But they’re a threat and when they get up ahead of steam at home, they’re a dangerous team so definitely (we’ve) got to be ready to cope with all that.”