Michael Carrick's Former Teammates Ready to Join Him at Manchester United

Michael Carrick will never be short of familiar faces if he ever decides to open the door at Manchester United.

Across Europe and beyond, some of his most decorated former team-mates are quietly – and not so quietly – making it known they would drop what they’re doing to work alongside him at Old Trafford. The pull of United, and of Carrick himself, clearly hasn’t faded.

Silvestre ready for the boardroom

Mikael Silvestre is one of them. The Frenchman spent nine years at United, winning everything there was to win, and shared a dressing room with Carrick in his final two seasons at the club. He walked away from playing in 2014 and made a deliberate decision: no tracksuit, no dugout.

Instead, he went upstairs.

Silvestre earned his coaching badges but chose the executive route, taking on the director of football role at Rennes, the club where he began his professional career, and later at Romanian side CFR Cluj. It’s that same position he would be prepared to take on at Old Trafford if the call ever came.

He told Grosvenor Sport he would not be returning as a coach and was clear about where he sees his value. The director of football role, he said, suits him best, pointing to his experience at Rennes and his Masters in sports management. He still follows all of his former clubs, but admits United sit in a different category for him after nearly a decade in Manchester.

“I played for them for nine years, after all,” he said, underlining the bond.

Right now, though, that seat is taken. Jason Wilcox holds the title of director of football, promoted into the role earlier this year after Dan Ashworth’s departure. Silvestre recognises that Carrick’s football department is already well stocked and does not expect an outside addition to be parachuted in. He will, however, be back at Carrington in September to watch training and cast an eye over the club he still feels closely attached to.

Rooney’s ‘no-brainer’

If Silvestre sees himself in the boardroom, Wayne Rooney’s vision is more traditional: boots on the grass, whistle in hand.

The club’s all-time leading scorer has been out of management since his bruising spell at Plymouth Argyle ended in 2024. For now, he has stepped back into punditry, but he has made one thing abundantly clear – there is one job that could drag him away from the studio.

Speaking in January, Rooney was asked whether he would join Carrick at United if the opportunity arose. His answer was instant. Of course he would. “It’s a no-brainer,” he said, while stressing he was not publicly begging for a role. If United asked, he would walk back through the doors without hesitation.

For Rooney, the key at Old Trafford is always the manager. Get that appointment right and everything else, in his view, can fall into place. If Carrick is the man in charge, Rooney has already nailed his colours to the mast.

Valencia would “go running”

Then there is Antonio Valencia, another figure who shared nine years in the United dressing room with Carrick and wore the captain’s armband in his later seasons.

Now 40 and working in broadcasting with Telemundo Deportes during the World Cup, Valencia is thousands of miles away from Manchester but speaks as if the club is still around the corner. His affection is undimmed. So is his willingness to serve.

Asked by Hajper whether he would return, Valencia did not hesitate. He would go back, he said, to the club that gave him so much and made his family so happy. The role would not matter. Any job. Any capacity. Out of pure passion.

He believes United are on the right path, but added that if the phone rang, he would “go running”. For a former captain who lived through title wins and transition years alike, that is not empty rhetoric. It is the language of someone who still feels a deep responsibility towards the badge.

A powerful safety net for Carrick

Carrick, for now, has his own staff and a structure around him that insiders insist is settled. Silvestre acknowledges the coaching team is full and the football department well stocked. There is no vacancy to fill, no immediate need to reshuffle.

Yet the picture is striking. A former director of football with European experience, the club’s greatest goalscorer and a modern-era captain are all publicly opening the door to a return – specifically to work with, or under, Michael Carrick.

If United’s hierarchy ever decide to reshape the football operation again, they will not need to look far for candidates who understand the club, the culture and the expectations that come with the shirt. The question is not whether Carrick can call on his old team-mates.

It’s whether, one day, he chooses to.