He will offer us so much — Carrick delighted for Rashford return

Carrick made no secret of his desire to keep Rashford after the England forward returned to pre-season training in Ireland this week, ending an 18-month exile from Old Trafford.

Rashford has not played for United since December 2024, spending the last season-and-a-half on loan at Aston Villa and Barcelona.

His spell at Barcelona was hugely successful, helping the Catalan giants to the LaLiga title. However, the Sanish club decided against making the move permanent.

Rashford could make his return in Friday's pre-season clash against Ruben Amorim's AC Milan, and Carrick is thrilled at the prospect of working with Rashford again.

"He's a very good player, and I think if you're going to have a career over 10 or 15 years, there's going to be times when things go in a direction and maybe a different direction," he said.

"I think there are ups and downs, and that doesn't judge you as a one-off kind of judgment. It's what happens over time, and now we're in a positive place as a group, and Marcus can offer us so much.

"He has done, and he can do again, so in that respect, it's quite exciting."

Rashford will have the feel of a new signing, for a club that has endured a relatively quiet transfer window, and Carrick belieeves that could be a huge positive.

"We're really calm, we just treat it like anybody else coming into the group and there's obviously this slight twist that he knows the club as well as anybody and that's a real positive," he concluded.