Michael Carrick has urged England manager Thomas Tuchel to give Manchester United trio Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw and Kobbie Mainoo a chance to underline their World Cup credentials.
Tuchel has not picked any United player since taking charge of England in January 2025, with Marcus Rashford selected during his loan spells at Aston Villa and Barcelona.
That remarkable statistic is evidence of United’s decline in recent years, but interim boss Carrick has called on Tuchel to use his stars in the friendlies against Japan and Uruguay later in March.
United centre-back Maguire has featured in three major tournaments and won the last of his 64 caps 18 months ago.
Mainoo made the most recent of his 10 international appearances in the same game that Maguire last played for the Three Lions — a Nations League clash with Ireland in September 2024.
Heralded as a future England regular after starting the Euro 2024 final against Spain, the 20-year-old midfielder fell out of favour at United during Ruben Amorim’s reign.
United left-back Shaw, who also featured in the Euro final loss two years ago, is another contender to be included on Friday when Tuchel names his squad for the last friendlies on home soil before the World Cup.
Maguire, Mainoo and Shaw have all started Carrick’s nine matches since replacing the sacked Amorim, helping revitalised United climb to third place ahead of Friday’s trip to Bournemouth.
“For the boys, I’d love to see them picked for this one and obviously picked for the summer,” Carrick told reporters on Wednesday.
Carrick said he had not “been in touch” with Tuchel over potential England call-ups before the World Cup, which starts in North America on June 11.
“I don’t have any influence on that but certainly the boys, the way they’re playing, I think they’ve put themselves right in the conversation and right in the picture and given themselves a chance,” he said.
“The boys are definitely playing well enough to warrant a place, for sure. It’s just not my decision so we’ll have to wait and see.”
Tuchel said in August that the absence of United players for so long did not mean there was a bias against the club.
Mainoo’s England absence was understandable given he did not make a Premier League start for four months, but he has returned as a key figure under Carrick.
“Of course he can always improve, and on a lot of things, just the age he’s at just for starters,” Carrick said.
“There’s so much more to come and develop, and that’s just natural. That’s not a negative on Kobbie, by any stretch. That’s just the stage he’s at in his career.
“Not having a lot of football for a period of time, to come in and play a run of games and find your rhythm, I think he did that really quickly.”
