Michael Carrick's Former Teammates Ready to Support at Manchester United

Michael Carrick will never be short of familiar faces if he ever needs help at Manchester United. The former midfielder may be carving out his own path in the dugout, but a cluster of old team-mates are already queuing up to answer the call.

Silvestre ready for a return – on his terms

Mikael Silvestre is one of them. The Frenchman, who spent nine decorated years at Old Trafford and shared a dressing room with Carrick in his final two seasons, has made it clear he would go back – but not in a tracksuit.

Silvestre walked away from playing in 2014 and deliberately turned his back on coaching. Instead, he went upstairs. He took the director of football role at Rennes, the club where he began his professional career, and later held the same position at CFR Cluj in Romania.

That experience has shaped his view of where he could fit in at United.

“I earned my coaching badges but it’s not for me. I’d prefer the Director of Football role which I did at Rennes after I completed my Masters in sports management,” he told Grosvenor Sport, while also acknowledging that United’s current structure is already well stocked.

He doesn’t see an obvious gap right now. Jason Wilcox holds the director of football position, stepping up after Dan Ashworth’s departure, and Silvestre is under no illusion that Carrick’s technical staff is already tightly built.

“I don’t know because I believe his coaching team is already full. It’s a department that has everyone it needs so I don’t see anybody coming in from the outside to offer something extra,” he said.

That doesn’t dilute his attachment. Silvestre still tracks his former clubs, but one in particular.

“I will go and watch United in September and observe training but like all former players I look out for all my clubs, although I look out for United more specifically than others. I played for them for nine years, after all.”

The pull of Old Trafford clearly hasn’t faded.

Rooney: ‘It’s a no-brainer’

If Silvestre sees himself upstairs, Wayne Rooney is far more open-ended – as long as it means working with Carrick.

Rooney has been out of management since his bruising spell at Plymouth Argyle in 2024 and has since settled into punditry. Yet he has already identified the one job that would drag him away from the studio lights.

Speaking in January, the club’s all-time leading goalscorer did not hesitate when asked if he would join Carrick at United.

“Of course I would. It’s a no-brainer,” he said. “I’m not begging a job here by the way. Just so everyone knows, if I was asked to go in of course I would. Appointing the manager is the most important thing.”

The line was classic Rooney: blunt, unapologetic and laced with the understanding of how fragile and crucial the top job is. He knows the weight that sits on the manager’s shoulders. He also knows exactly what it means to carry United on your back.

Valencia would ‘go running’

Then there is Antonio Valencia, another of Carrick’s long-serving lieutenants from the dressing room days. The Ecuadorian spent nine years at the club and wore the captain’s armband; his connection to United remains visceral.

Now 40 and working for Telemundo Deportes on World Cup coverage, Valencia admitted to Hajper that he would not even haggle over a job description if United came calling.

“Yes, I would go back. Manchester United is a club that gave me so much. My family was very happy there. I would work for Manchester United in any role, out of passion. It is a club I love a lot,” he said.

He likes the direction the club is taking, but left no doubt about his readiness.

“I think everything they are doing is going well. But if they called me, I would go running.”

Carrick’s quiet power base

Between Silvestre’s boardroom ambition, Rooney’s open offer and Valencia’s unfiltered devotion, a pattern emerges. Carrick, the understated midfielder who once knitted United’s play together, now sits at the centre of a different kind of network.

He may not need them yet. His staff is settled, the football department already layered with specialists and decision-makers. Wilcox occupies the role Silvestre covets. Rooney is rebuilding his reputation in the media. Valencia is thriving as a broadcaster.

But if the day comes when Manchester United and Michael Carrick decide they want to lean on the old guard, the answer from three corners of Europe and beyond is already clear.

They’re waiting for the call.