Jose Mourinho reveals Michael Carrick will become Manchester United coach after he retires

Carrick revealed he had undergone minor heart surgery earlier this season on Friday

Carrick has only featured once for United this season (Getty)

Jose Mourinho has confirmed that Michael Carrick will join his coaching staff at Manchester United as soon as he wants it.

Carrick revealed on Friday night that he had undergone minor heart surgery earlier this season to address an irregular heart rhythm and has only featured once for the club this season.

The irregularity was identified by doctors and the 36-year-old underwent a cardiac ablation to correct the problem.

The former West Ham and Tottenham midfielder signed a one-year contract extension in the summer but is expected to retire at the end of the season and Mourinho confirmed that everyone at the club wants Carrick to join his coaching staff.

“Michael Carrick as a person is more important than Michael as a player,” Mourinho said after the 1-0 win over Brighton at Old Trafford. “We gave him the time to relax, to recover, to feel confident to make the decision, wants to play, wants to stop.

“He knows that my coaching staff has a chair for him, if he wants, when he wants. The chair is in the office for him I want that, the board want that, the owners want that.

“Michael is in a comfortable position the future is with us. But he wants to play until the end of the season and now he feels confident to be back. He is one more option more for us.”

In a statement released on Friday night, the United star reassured fans that he is “healthy" and focused on making his comeback for United.

Mourinho also hit out at the critics who have branded his team selections too defensive and he opted to start with both Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford against Brighton – a decision which failed to spark the fluid attacks he would have hoped for.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the pundits said today we played with too many attackers,” Mourinho added. “But if they say that I would say they were right because sometimes you play with too many attacking players and you lose control of the game.

“We had a few problems defensively with the game because Pogba and Matic were a bit isolated in the centre of the park.

“If we compensate that with more creation that is good, that is a good risk and against Newcastle it was good because were were not very solid defensively but were really strong in creating.

“But today our creation was poor. The three players who played with Lukaku didn’t get the ball, they were not successful in one against ones, Marcus did not have a happy match at all.

“We didn’t have creation. You could expect some defensive problems against a good team on the counter attack, I could expect to concede a goal. But I would expect us to have more football, more chances, more goals.”