Jamie Carragher has raised an immediate red flag about a potential Manchester United move for Julian Nagelsmann. The Red Devils have been linked with the coach as a potential replacement for Ruben Amorim, who was sacked by the club earlier this year.
Michael Carrick has taken interim charge since and has guided United to the brink of Champions League qualification. They only need a handful of points to confirm a return to Europe’s most prestigious competition after a three-season hiatus, but who will manage them next season is still up in the air.
Carragher doesn’t believe Nagelsmann, who is currently in charge of the German national team, should be the man to do it because he’ll be too focused on the World Cup. Writing in his Telegraph column, the ex-Liverpool ace claimed Nagelsmann wouldn’t be able to have a strong enough input on pre-season plans.
He said: “Nagelsmann may have his eye on a return to club football after the World Cup, but you cannot expect the Germany manager to be secretly discussing transfers and pre-season plans while involved in such a huge tournament.
“He probably wouldn’t be with United on the first day of pre-season training if Germany went far in the United States. That is an immediate red flag. United would be sacrificing a chance to get a head start in pre-season under Carrick for a more disrupted preparation.”
United’s first pre-season match is pencilled in for Saturday, July 18, which is one day before the World Cup final. As such, Carragher believes United’s best bet would be to stick with Carrick and hand him the job on a permanent basis.
Justifying the pick, Carragher wrote: “Over the past four months, Carrick has bought himself and the United board a valuable commodity that is generally elusive in football: time. He has restored a sense of normality – an underestimated quality at any club, let alone one of the biggest.
“The United hierarchy must feel they are finally in a blissful situation where they can wake up every morning without worrying about the next drama unfolding with managers falling out with and exiling players, saying daft things in press conferences and – most importantly – regularly losing games in an unacceptable way.
“It must be a relief to have a coach who makes the game simpler by playing someone like Bruno Fernandes in his right position, a tactical switch that makes the United skipper a contender for player of the year.”