Michael Carrick left in limbo as vilified chiefs Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox meet for crisis summit at Carrington: Inside Man United's day of reckoning after humiliating Bournemouth defeat

· DailyMail

CHRIS WHEELER: Michael Carrick is in limbo as Manchester United head coach following a day of crisis talks between the club's owners and senior executives over his future at Old Trafford.

Michael Carrick is in limbo as Manchester United head coach following a day of crisis talks between the club’s owners and senior executives over his future at Old Trafford.

Carrick remains under huge pressure after Sunday’s home defeat to Bournemouth left United one point above the Premier League relegation zone.

Chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox were at the club’s Carrington training ground on Monday and are understood to have held conference calls with minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and co-chairmen Joel and Avram Glazer.

It is unclear if United have reached a final decision over whether to sack Carrick or if he will take training on Tuesday morning when the players report back to Carrington to prepare for their next game at Chelsea on Saturday lunchtime.

The squad had Monday off after losing 3-0 to Bournemouth, but Carrick turned up at the training ground to watch a behind-closed-doors game against Hull City while Berrada and Wilcox discussed his future in another part of the complex. It isn’t known if the 45-year-old spoke to them during the three hours he spent there.

Carrick arrived at 1.50pm Monday, 10 minutes before the game involving a mixture of fringe players and youth-teamers kicked off. He watched it with his assistant Steve Holland and Under-18s boss Darren Fletcher before leaving the training ground shortly after Wilcox.

Michael Carrick arrived at Carrington to watch the under-21s - with his bosses deciding his fate

Carrick's future at Old Trafford is in jeopardy after Sunday's awful 3-0 defeat by Bournemouth

To add to the intrigue, Bruno Fernandes was also at Carrington for treatment along with Benjamin Sesko, Patrick Dorgu and Manuel Ugarte, 24 hours after Carrick had dropped his captain for Sunday’s game and left him on the bench.

Although Carrick insisted that his decision was purely for football reasons, it felt like he was punishing Fernandes for criticising United’s tactics in a television interview after the Champions League defeat to Como in Italy last week.

The Portugal star seemed to respond with a veiled dig at Carrick on Sunday night when he liked a cryptic Instagram post that read: ‘Never push a loyal person to the point where they no longer care.’

Carrick’s job is hanging by a thread after losing half of his 12 games this season. United have made their worst start to a league campaign in 40 years, and have failed to win in eight games for the first time since 2015.

Carrick was visibly emotional after the defeat to Bournemouth when the fans gave him a rousing show of support while directing their fury at the Glazers, Ratcliffe, Wilcox and the players.

The former United midfielder appeared to say farewell to supporters afterwards, although he later insisted that was not the case.

It followed a heartfelt five-minute monologue to reporters at the start of his pre-match press conference on Friday, two days after he approached the travelling fans in Como to apologise for a 4-1 defeat.

After playing away in Spain and Italy over the last fortnight, United have a free week because they were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Brighton and aren’t in action again until Saturday’s trip to Stamford Bridge.

Jason Wilcox and Omar Berrada met for crunch talks as Carrick spent time with the youth team

Carrick has 18 months left on the two-year contract he signed in May after guiding the club back into the Champions League.

If United decide to change head coach again, Eddie Howe and Julian Nagelsmann – both currently out of work and able to take over immediately – are the leading candidates after bookmakers stopped taking bets on Carrick being sacked.

Although Howe is available after leaving Newcastle in the summer, it’s understood that United would still owe his old club around £3million in compensation as well as having to pay off Carrick and his coaching staff.

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