Carrick has guided United to third place in the table and to the cusp of a Champions League return. However, while Neville values the work his former United colleague has accomplished at Old Trafford, he considers current Germany manager Nagelsmann possesses a more distinguished CV.
Speaking on The Overlap Fan Debate, Neville said: “Michael is probably one of the best lads you could ever meet and he’s obviously intelligent. He’s at the start of a coaching career.
“The other day I thought it would be so classy and so Michael-like if he said: ‘Guys, I’ve done what I came in to do – I’ve got you into the Champions League, I’ve re-stabilised the club, settled the place down. Now go and put someone in.’ “Look, people say – who would you put in?
“And, this is not a pitch for Nagelsmann to be the manager of Manchester United – I haven’t watched enough of his football.
“But if I look at his work at Hoffenheim, his work at (RB) Leipzig – which is a serious coaching club – then he goes to (Bayern) Munich and wins the league, and then takes Germany to the World Cup.
“And you say: ‘right, let’s look at that coach’. That is a serious body of work.”
Carrick’s sole prior managerial experience came at Championship outfit Middlesbrough. And Neville added: “When you look at someone’s body of work and say that is not enough to take on a club like Chelsea, you then apply the same logic.
“Michael’s been at Middlesbrough, it’s a really good start to his career and he did really well, but it isn’t a body of work that makes you the (Manchester) United manager.
“So that’s the argument against. Has he got a body of work that can cope with this giant that’s going to start roaring again?
“Because what is going to come out of the dragon’s mouth – which is (Manchester) United – in the next six to twelve months is significant.
“Champions League football, Casemiro leaving, recruitment in the summer – things happen and it becomes a very different job next season.
“You need someone who has handled Champions League football, handled sixty games a season, handled the spotlight and scrutiny of United.”