boss Erik ten Hag has explained his decision to bring Benni McCarthy to the club ahead of the new season.
Former striker McCarthy was appointed as a first-team coach over the weekend and will work under Ten Hag at United for the 2022-23 campaign.
The 44-year-old South African played for Blackburn Rovers and in the Premier League, spending five years in England from 2006 until 2011.
McCarthy also played for , where he won the Eredivisie, as well as for Celta Vigo in the Spanish top-flight.
It was at Porto where he enjoyed the most success, winning two Portuguese top-flight titles as well as lifting the Champions League under Jose Mourinho.
McCarthy scored 31 goals in 79 games for South Africa and was crowned African Cup of Nations Best Player and won the Golden Boot at the 1998 tournament.
Since retirement McCarthy has ventured into both coaching and first-team management, with his first job coming at Scottish club Hibernian where he joined the coaching staff under the management of Alan Stubbs.
He then became assistant manager at Belgian club Sint-Truiden before a spell as a first-team boss for South African sides Cape Town City and AmaZulu.
McCarthy left AmaZulu in March and now joins United as first-team coach under Ten Hag.
‘There was still one place in our coaching staff that I wanted to fill,’ Ten Hag told when explaining his decision to bring McCarthy to Old Trafford.
‘He has experience as a manager. He was a coach in the professional level and he was a former striker, a really successful striker as well.
‘He will focus on the positioning and attacking. I’m not saying only the strikers, but also the integration from the full-backs and midfielders.
‘Our way of play has to be dynamic.’
United’s season gets started on August 7 when they host Brighton as they look to improve on last season’s sixth-place finish.
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