Manchester United's first group coach Benni McCarthy has revealed how Erik ten Hag left him "with a lump in his throat" after he was requested to come back all the way down to Trafford Training Centre to ship a session with the primary group. The former Blackburn Rovers striker was subsequently appointed because the  Red Devils' new attacking coach forward of the 2022/2023 marketing campaign when Ten Hag took cost.

McCarthy is a United supporter and had dreamed of selecting up a job of their set-up after retiring from skilled soccer in 2013. His first position in teaching was because the assistant supervisor for Belgian Pro League aspect Sint-Truidense earlier than taking up administration roles in his native South Africa with Cape Town City and AmaZulu.

After leaving the latter he was provided a place in Ten Hag's backroom workers the place he was entrusted with reinforcing the membership's entrance line. McCarthy landed the position after impressing throughout a trial session and is into his second 12 months with the membership on the time of writing.

“Erik ten Hag came in and he spoke to my agent Rob Moore about one of the players that was playing in Holland and he asked Rob about an American player that Rob also managed,” stated McCarthy.

“They were just speaking about that and once the conversation had ended, he said to him, ‘By the way, how’s Benni? How is Benni doing? Is he still working in South Africa?’

“When Rob told me that the manager wanted to speak to me and wanted me to go and see him, I had a massive lump in my throat. I had just read, a couple of weeks prior to that, that he had joined Man United and I wondered what would he possibly want with me? I called him, spoke to him and he asked me to come down to Manchester and deliver a training session.”

McCarthy is believed to be the person behind Marcus Rashford's reawakening on the coronary heart of the Red Devil's assault. Last season, Rashford discovered the again of the web 30 instances in 56 video games for his boyhood membership, his greatest scoring report up to now. 

During his personal soccer profession, McCarthy was identified for having an eye fixed for objective himself. Over the course of an 18-year stint as an expert, he scored 175 objectives in 471 appearances. He is greatest identified for main the road for Porto's well-known Champions League-winning aspect in 2004 underneath Jose Mourinho.