Football
Rob Dawson, Correspondent 6y

Carrick to assume coaching role at Man United after retirement - Mou

MANCHESTER -- Jose Mourinho says Michael Carrick has accepted a first-team coaching role at Manchester United.

The midfielder is back in training after undergoing a routine heart procedure in October. Mourinho expects to have the 36-year-old, who has been limited to one first-team appearance so far this season, available again soon.

And the United manager revealed that when Carrick does hang up his boots, possibly at the end of the current campaign, he is set to join the backroom staff at Old Trafford.

He told a news conference on Friday: "A few months without even training so now he is in his second week of training with the team. He is a very important player for us.

"I think the decision [to stop playing] to be at the end of the season and not last week, I think is a good decision for the team and a good decision for him to finish playing football and not injured or with some problem.

"So we are all happy and in the end of the season I expect him to join, unless he changes his mind, but the club would be very happy for him to do that.

"I would be very happy also for him to do that."

United confirmed last week that defender Cameron Borthwick-Jackson has returned to Old Trafford after his season-long loan at Leeds United was cut short.

The club also had an option to bring back midfielder Andreas Pereira during the January transfer window, but Mourinho says the Brazilian is set to stay at Valencia until the summer.

He added: "Pereira is happy. He's playing. My only little concern is that he's playing in a position that doesn't exist in Manchester United.

"They're playing in a total different system than us and he plays in a position that we don't have.

"We will need an update in relation to that. But the experience he's having, playing in a good competition, in a good club, in a difficult club because it's a club with big fanbase, with pressure around, I think is an amazing experience for him and we are happy to let him [stay] there.

"Sam Johnstone in Aston Villa is playing all the time and is an important player for them and they are going to fight for promotion, we are also happy to have him there.

"Tim Fosu-Mensah is getting matches in Crystal Palace so nobody is coming [back]."

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