Manchester United legend Peter Schmeichel has pushed back against the appointment of Mauricio Pochettino, insisting the treatment of Michael Carrick has been “very disrespectful”.

Carrick took training on Wednesday while director of football Jason Wilcox and CEO Omar Berrada jetted off for their regularly scheduled meeting with Sir Jim Ratcliffe to ratify the decision to sack him.

Meanwhile, Man Utd have reportedly reached a ‘full agreement’ with Pochettino to become their new manager.

Marca’s Matteo Moretto wrote on X: ‘Mauricio Pochettino will be Manchester United’s next manager: the parties have reached a full agreement pending Michael Carrick’s dismissal.’

Three centre-back targets have reportedly been identified for the January transfer window after conceding more goals (30) than any other club in the top five European leagues in all competitions this season.

A report claims Carrick signalled his desire for further recruits to Wilcox during Man Utd’s summer training camp in Dublin but was denied further investment after £150m was spent in a suspect midfield rebuild.

And Schmeichel believes Carrick has been dealt a duff hand by the Red Devils chiefs and deserves another transfer window to sign some defenders.

“I absolutely do feel sympathy for him. I think the way this is playing out is very disrespectful to him,” Schmeichel told The Overlap Daily.

“If I’m honest, I don’t think he’s doing anything wrong. I know the team that he’s in charge of is where they are in the table, but I don’t put all of that on him.

“There are so many things that have been going on at Manchester United literally since Sir Alex (Ferguson) and David Gill left the club. And it’s never been corrected. It’s not been the correct people, not the right people in charge, and slowly it’s just gone worse.

“And if you think about this transfer window now, it’s abundantly clear to everyone – everyone who knows just a little bit about football – that Manchester United needed defenders.

“They got through a whole transfer window without signing a single defender. You can’t win games if you concede 30 goals in 10 games…that was not addressed.

“So yes, I do feel a lot of sympathy for Michael. I think what is happening is wrong. I think we should stick with Michael.

“I think we should just try and steady the ship a little bit and then get into January and then sign the players that he feels he needs to bring the team forward and then be realistic about what this season is all about.”