Michael Carrick wowed by two Man Utd gems, including one who played in unnatural role

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19 July 2026

Manchester United

manager Michael Carrick has raved about

Jacob Devaney

and

Tyler Fletcher

after the defeat to

Wrexham

Man Utd

kicked off their pre-season campaign with a 1-0 loss to

at the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki on Saturday afternoon.

Sam Smith’s goal just before half-time proved to be the difference between the Premier League club and the Championship outfit.

After the match, Man Utd boss

Carrick

highlighted the positives and underlined the performance of Devaney and Fletcher.

Devaney is only 19 years of age and spent the second half of last season on loan at Scottish club St. Mirren.

Despite being a midfielder by trade, the teenager played in defence after coming on as a substitute for the second half, leaving Carrick hugely impressed.

Carrick told

MUTV

, as relayed by

The Manchester Evening News

: “I was really pleased with the second-half team.

“I thought they controlled the game really well against a team that’s not easy to play against, and makes you work for it, and they can play long into.

“I thought that, in general, the boys took responsibility and showed their quality. Again, that final bit of trying to break down a lot of bodies behind the ball, at this stage of pre-season it’s not easy to find that sharpness. I think they can really be proud of themselves.

“JD playing centre-half, it’s not natural to him, he’s played there a little bit, but not a lot and I thought he did ever so well.

“He had a really successful few months up there [in Scotland] and it was good to see him kind of take that next step. And you could see today the confidence and the assurance in his game, even though he was playing a slightly different position.

“He was vocal, he was commanding and, yeah, I liked a lot of what he did there.”

Like Devaney,

, too, is 19, plays as a midfielder and came on as a substitute for the second half of the match against

The son of former Man Utd and Scotland international midfielder Darren Fletcher, the midfielder was the captain of the Red Devils for the second 45 minutes.

Carrick said about Fletcher: “He’s had an eventful three or four months, really.

“He had a couple of weeks off [after the World Cup].

“He didn’t want long off.

“He wanted to get back into it, and again, I think he stepped into the game and took that responsibility.

“He led the team in the second half really well.”

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