Fernandes benched then backed: Carrick’s captain call amid Man United crisis

MANCHESTER, England — Under-pressure Manchester United manager Michael Carrick is retaining Bruno Fernandes as captain, despite dropping the Portugal star during a crisis at the beleaguered Premier League giant.

Fernandes criticized Carrick's tactics after a heavy Champions League defeat at Como last week, and was named as a substitute and never got on the field in the 3-0 home loss to Bournemouth on Sunday.

Those two results left Carrick's job under massive threat but United decided to give its former midfielder the chance to turn things around, starting against Chelsea in the Premier League on Saturday lunchtime.

Carrick and Fernandes held talks this week to clear the air and the manager was asked on Thursday if he considered giving the captaincy to Harry Maguire — who wore the armband against Bournemouth — on a permanent basis.

“No. There's no decision to be made on that,” Carrick said.

“He's the captain of our football club,” he added about Fernandes, English soccer's player of the year last season. “There's different personalities, there's different characters and ways to lead. It all comes down to what happens on the football pitch and whether you win or not ... he cares deeply about this football club and the team and he's desperate to do well, so we will lead that together.”

Carrick said he had not been given any assurances about his future from United's ownership.

“I totally get the position, I understand the job, I understand the responsibilities, I understand what comes with that,” he said. "I really don't need assurances from anybody in that regard."

United is on an eight-match winless streak in all competitions and is languishing in 16th place in the Premier League, with just one victory in eight games.

Asked if he was surprised to still be in a job, Carrick said: “No — I'm here to do my job, you know, I'm here to do my best for the team and am desperate to make us better and improve things. So I'm not surprised, no.”

___

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.