Man Utd: Michael Carrick chosen to end Premier League title drought - but is he capable of taking the team to the top?

Manchester United have two years to meet their ambitious goal of winning the Premier League title by 2028. Chief executive Omar Berrarda stood by the commitment a year ago after Ruben Amorim's self-proclaimed "disaster season".

"We've just finished 15th and it seems an impossible task. But why not aim for it? Why not do everything in our power?" Berrada told fanzine United We Stand.

Michael Carrick was probably not the head coach INEOS had in mind when they set out Project 150, a plan which sought to propel the men's and women's teams to the top of English football in time for the 150th anniversary of the club being founded as Newton Heath.

However, by handing Carrick a two-year contract, which includes an option to extend until 2029, United's decision-makers have certainly given the impression they believe he will fulfil that target and lift the title for the first time since 2012/13.

Few people have argued against the decision to give Carrick the job. Yet there is not a great deal of confidence that he can bring United back to the top. Six have tried and failed since Sir Alex Ferguson. Does Carrick stand a chance, and what does he need to address?

United spoke to other candidates before hiring Carrick but there was little doubt he would get the job after the results he has picked up. He clinched a third-placed finish with a game to spare and a return to the Champions League. What else were United to do?

Logistically, the World Cup may have aided Carrick's chances by narrowing the field and eliminating a few elite managers that could have made United rethink their plans. Someone like Germany's Julian Nagelsmann would not have been able to start work until mid-July.

Carrick, meanwhile, has already been involved in talks about the summer and has the overwhelming support of the dressing room. He makes sense. That might not have been the case in a different year.

This was framed as a summer when world-class managers would be available, yet it has not worked out like that. Instead, United have hired the man Middlesbrough sacked last summer for missing out on Championship promotion.

There is, of course, much more to Carrick than that. He has a better win rate than any other United manager since Ferguson, albeit over a smaller sample size. But his lack of Premier League experience is important to factor in to this consideration.

Mikel Arteta is the first manager to win the Premier League who had never won major silverware before his appointment. You can spin that both ways for Carrick, whose journey from midfielder and club captain to the dugout bears some resemblance to Arteta's.