Who Wayne Rooney sees at the helm of Manchester United: “He's the right man”

The full schedule of round #22 of the Premier League

After the dismissal of Ruben Amorim, Darren Fletcher was installed as an interim on the United bench, but the Scot only lasted two games at the helm of the club at Old Trafford.

The elimination from the FA Cup (1-2 “at home” with Brighton), respectively the draw from the championship with the newly promoted Burnley (2-2 at Turf Moor), convinced the bosses of the “devils” that Fletcher is not the man to take United to the TOP 6 until the end of the current season.

Thus, the helm of the Manchester formation was taken over by another former player from Old Trafford, namely Michael Carrick, and the Englishman's first result was an excellent one. 2-0 home win against local rivals City.

Wayne Rooney: “Thomas Tuchel is the right man for Manchester United”

However, Carrick's position is still an interim one, as he will step down as head of the technical bench at the end of the current season.

Of course, if United record convincing results under the command of the Englishman, his tenure could be extended, but this aspect can only be discussed in the summer.

It seems, however, that Wayne Rooney, a former colleague of Carrick at Old Trafford between 2006-2017, is of the opinion that the “devils” need a technician with more experience, this to be able to gradually return to the performances recorded by the club under the command of the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson.

What's more, the former striker even offered the name of the coach he considers suitable to take over the team starting from the next season, and this is none other than Thomas Tuchel, the current England national team coach.

Thomas Tuchel is England manager from early 2025 // PHOTO: Getty Images

Speaking on BBC Radio's 'Wayne Rooney Show', the former Three Lions international spoke about Carrick's possible replacements, noting that the German is the 'perfect man' for the job.

Also, when asked if Xabi Alonso (recently dismissed by Real Madrid) could represent, in turn, an option for United, Rooney was more reserved, considering that the Spaniard would be more suitable at Liverpool.

Alonso did incredible things at Bayer Leverkusen, but I think there is a better chance of him going to Liverpool. This is probably his plan as well. To replace Slot…and I think he would be a good fit for it.

From my point of view, Tuchel is the perfect man for Manchester United. He knows the Premier League very well, has won important titles in his career and is doing a good job with the England national team. But of course time will tell what happens.

– Wayne Rooney

Thomas Tuchel became the England manager at the beginning of 2025, and since then the “Three Lions” first team has recorded 8 victories in as many official matches played (all in the qualification campaign for the World Cup in the summer).

Furthermore, in these eight games, Tuchel's team scored 22 times and did not concede a single goal. The other two games with the German at the helm were friendly matches (3-0 with Wales, respectively 1-3 with Senegal).

Until he became the England coach, Tuchel only coached club teams, the most important being Chelsea (with whom he managed to conquer the Champions League, season 2020/2021), PSG (UCL finalist in 2019/2020), Bayern Munich (Bundesliga champion, season 2022/2023) and Borussia Dortmund (winner of the German Cup, season 2016/2017).

Full CV of Thomas Tuchel:

• Mainz 05 (2009-2014);

• Borussia Dortmund (2015-2017):
  – 1x German Cup (2016/2017);

• PSG (2018-2020):
  – 2x Ligue 1 (2018/2019, 2019/2020);

  – 1x French Cup (2019/2020);

  – 1x French League Cup (2019/2020);

  – 2x French Super Cup (2018, 2019);

• Chelsea (2021-2022):

  – 1x Champions League (2020/2021);

  – 1x European Supercup (2021);

  – 1x Club World Championship (2021);

• Bayern Munich (2022-2024):

  – 1x Bundesliga (2022/2023).

Premier League standings: