Ex-Manchester United star Nicky Butt thinks INEOS have an “easy choice” regarding their next permanent manager.

Since January, Man Utd have had club legend Michael Carrickas their interim boss, with the former Middlesbrough boss drafted in to replace Ruben Amorim.

Initially, Man Utdonly intended to have Carrick in charge until the summer, at which point the club would look to appoint a top-level replacement to oversee a long-term project.

However, Carrick has put INEOS in a difficult position by winning seven of his first ten games in charge, with this form dramatically improving United’s hopes of securing Champions League qualification.

It has also been widely reported that Carrick has inserted himself as the favourite to be Man Utd’s next permanent boss, and Butt thinks, partly because three alternatives are out of the running, that he is the “easy choice” for INEOS.

“The thing with the Michael scenario is that it’s all well and good people saying that he’s not quite ready for the job, and I get that side of the argument as well,” Butt said on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast.

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“But for me, if you’re asking me the question, if you don’t give it to Michael then who are you giving it to? There’s nobody I can think of that is jumping out, going: that’s the man.

“So that’s why I think Michael will get it. He’s doing a good job, he knows the football club.

“Even more importantly, I think the people above him will like working with Michael, he’s not going to cause them too much of a headache, he’s not going to start being a Jose Mourinho. He’s the easy choice.”

On potential other candidates, Butt added: “Also, their get out if it was to go wrong… I don’t know anyone who is jumping out and they’re speaking to.

“Julian Nagelsmann, Thomas Tuchel is signed [to England], I don’t think Carlo Ancelotti would come, I really don’t think we would come. So there’s nobody there in my eyes going, ‘Well you’ve got to take him!’… it’s not like a Jose Mourinho or a Jurgen Klopp has become available.”

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Butt’s podcast co-host, Paul Scholes, has been particularly critical of Carrick, and the pundit has raised a “big question” about his potential permanent appointment.

“I think he’s put himself in a much better position,” Scholes explained.

“Now look, I’m not going to say it’s quite easy to win games because it isn’t, of course everyone wants to beat Manchester United.

“But it’s easier now to win games now from what he’s come into about a man [Ruben Amorim] who didn’t do great, round pegs, round holes, all that kind of stuff.

“The big question will be the start of next season, the first ten or 15 games of next year, when you have to win games, you have to put yourself in a position: Champions League, the league, that’s when it becomes a proper job.

“We wont know if Michael is the right choice for… people say two or three years but I think you’ll probably know like next November.”

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He added: “Sometimes managers just look right and just looking at Michael, the way he handles himself, not so much the way he dresses, but he just looks right.

“He’s unflappable now because everything’s going alright… I’m saying let’s see next November, if they’ve lost two or three games, all of a sudden they’re seventh, eighth in the league, maybe lose a Champions League game, that’s when the big test will be.

“Look, I think Michael can handle it.”