Man Utd star’s extraordinary curse continues after hopeless Michael Carrick affect
A Manchester United star’s extraordinary manager curse has continued after Michael Carrick was sacked. The Red Devils legend was axed on Thursday morning after weeks of major pressure on his job.
Carrick and his staff were axed by executives Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox following a meeting with co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe in Monaco to seal his fate. All the while, United negotiated a deal with Mauricio Pochettino to replace him.
And Carrick’s exit means that Matthijs de Ligt’s curse continues, with Pochettino set to become his 12th permanent manager in 10 years, and means the Dutchman has never played under the same manager for two complete seasons.
Matthijs de Ligt has an extraordinary manager curse(Image: AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
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De Ligt’s back injury has kept him out of action for the best part of a year, and his return to action was brief and not enough to help save Carrick.
The centre-back, still only 27, made his senior debut under Peter Bosz in the 2016/17 season at Ajax, but he only played 23 games under his compatriot after he left to take up an ill-fated role at Borussia Dortmund.
Bosz was at the Amsterdam giants for just one season, winning 36 of his 56 games in charge as they finished 2nd in the Eredivisie to Feyenoord. But the former midfielder only lasted until December at the Westfalenstadion after winning just eight of his 24 games at the helm. He’s since managed Bayer Leverkusen and Lyon before returning to the Netherlands with PSV Eindhoven in 2023, where he has won the league title three years in a row.
Matthijs de Ligt started his career under Peter Bosz at Ajax
After Bosz left, Marcel Keizer replaced him at the Johan Cruyff Arena. De Ligt played 40 games under Keizer during his time at the senior team and Jong Ajax, but he found himself sacked before Christmas after losing a cup match to FC Twente.
Then came Erik ten Hag, who De Ligt became incredibly familiar with. The future United boss took charge in January 2018 and guided Ajax to another 2nd place finish before the club kicked on to enjoy one of their greatest seasons in decades.
A first Eredivisie crown for De Ligt was won in the 2018/19 season as the famous team of Frenkie De Jong, Hakim Ziyech, Donny van de Beek and co heartbreakingly missed out on the Champions League final. Ironically being beaten by Pochettino’s Tottenham and Lucas Moura’s hat-trick heroics.
Matthijs de Ligt and Erik ten Hag enjoyed a successful relationship at Ajax
That proved to be De Ligt’s final campaign at his boyhood club as he completed a £67.8million swich to Juventus, playing under Mauricio Sarri and being a crucial part of the defence which won the Serie A title.
However, the confrontational Italian was sacked after just one season after they failed to go far in the Champions League, losing to Lyon in the last-16. The former Chelsea boss’ controversial sacking saw club legend Andrea Pirlo step up from the U23s manager.
But the Pirlo punt was largely a failure for the Old Lady as they finished 4th, although they won the Coppa Italia. A poor league campaign where they squeezed into the Champions League spots on the final day and another last 16 exit, this time to Porto, saw Pirlo sacked.
The sixth manager of De Ligt’s career was appointed in the shape of Massimiliano Allegri, but the campaign ended in disappointment again as the Turin giants lost control of their stranglehold on Italian football, again finishing 4th and heading out of the Champions League in the round of 16 to Villarreal.
De Ligt was at Juventus under Massimiliano Allegri
De Ligt was among the Juventus players to make the most amount of appearances that season, but he pursued a move to Bayern Munich in the summer of 2022 for £65.6million.
Had the Dutch defender remained at Juventus, he might well have broken the curse as Allegri remained as Juve boss in the hope of recreating his brilliant side of the mid-to-late 2010s, but their fall-off was completed by a 7th place finish. He wouldn’t be sacked until the end of the 2023/24 season.
De Ligt was instead in Munich, playing under Julian Nagelsmann as he lifted a third league title in a European league as Bayern overcame a rough spell under Nagelsmann to hire Thomas Tuchel and pip Borussia Dortmund to the Bundesliga crown on the final day. De Ligt played the most games of any defender at the club that year.
Matthijs de Ligt worked under Julian Nagelsmann at Bayern Munich(Image: INA FASSBENDER / AFP via Getty Images)
Tuchel remained in charge during the 2023/24 campaign, becoming only the second manager De Ligt played under during two different seasons, but not for a complete campaign.
However, that season proved to be Tuchel’s last before he took up the England job as the Bavarian giants could only finish 3rd, behind runaway champions Bayer Leverkusen and Stuttgart. De Ligt also struggled with injuries for the first time in his career during that season as a knee problem limited his involvement to just 22 Bundesliga games.
After Vincent Kompany arrived at the end of that season, the club decided to cash in on De Ligt and he made the move to the fourth club of his career, and back to Ten Hag at Old Trafford, in a £42.9m deal in 2024.
De Ligt’s first season in Manchester was a hugely tumultuous one with Ten Hag lasting only until October. It was then the turn of caretaker Ruud van Nistelrooy until Ruben Amorim walked through the doors in November, and took the club to 15th in the league.
De Ligt suffered a major injury just one month before Ruben Amorim was sacked(Image: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
The Dutchman was absent through injury for the nightmare run of form at the end of the season, where the Reds picked up just two points in seven games, also missing the Europa League final defeat to Tottenham.
De Ligt returned to fitness for the start of the 2025/26 season, but a back injury sustained in November ruled him out of action for over a year. And Amorim was axed just over a month after he was first placed on the injury table.
Carrick arrived days later and guided the club to 3rd in his absence, earning the job permanently after United finished the campaign with the best points total over the second half of the season.
De Ligt completed his return in October as injuries and suspension forced him to play in the 4-1 defeat against Como. He is yet to play in the league this season after being an unused substitute in the four previous games, and appearing as a late substitute to help see through the comeback win against Roma.
Having never really suffered injuries bar his final season at Bayern before arriving at United, De Ligt played just 81 minutes under Carrick.
While he’s back in the squad, Pochettino, who is moving closer to becoming United boss, will be hoping the centre-back can return to action, but will be praying that De Ligt’s manager curse doesn’t continue and he is allowed ample time to turn United around and build towards success in the future.
