"Listen..." - Michael Carrick speaks out on Man Utd players wanting to win the Premier League next season

Michael Carrick has hailed the mindset of his Manchester United players in setting their sights on Premier League title glory next season.

United need two points from their final four games of the season to seal a Champions League place for next season, a remarkable turnaround from last term's worst-ever Premier League finish of 15th.

However, head coach Carrick said qualifying for the Champions League should not be the ceiling of United's ambition, with midfielder Mason Mount having claimed this week that the squad must now push to win the title.

"I want to win the Premier League," said Mount. “Can we do that? I think we can. It may seem a little far away, but you have to have that mentality to really push yourself as a group. We've shown what we can do against the big teams already – Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, you know? So we definitely can do it.

"I've had a little taste of winning something with the club, the FA Cup, and that was unbelievable. But to do a Premier League, I can't even imagine how special that would be."

Carrick, who is hoping to land the United manager's job on a permanent basis this summer, welcomed Mount's claim and said winning the league for the first time since 2013 has to be the next goal after returning to Europe.

“Listen, to win the league is the ultimate, but it takes an awful lot,” said Carrick.

“I think for the boys to feel confident and have the hope and that belief that it's possible at some point around the corner, then that's exactly where we want to be.

“How close you are, time will tell, and I'm not going to be making any major statements on that one, but I think it's, again, the improvement of the group, the results that we've had against the teams that we've had, I think gives the boys a lot of confidence. So we need to keep making good steps.

“I just think it's kind of the mindset, really, throughout. Sometimes that comes from me in terms of setting the agenda, setting the goals, setting the targets.

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“But I think the boys are hungry enough and understand enough about this club and where we want to be, how we want it to look, that we're not going to get carried away with certain things [like Champions League qualification], but it's a good step.

“It's huge progress in terms of being at this stage. What they went through as a group last season, to now be in the position of fighting for and in the positioning towards the top of the league, it's a big jump and a big step, so they need to take a lot of credit for that as a group and a squad, but they certainly understand that it's another step and we want to keep trying to achieve more than that.”

With United on the brink of a return to the Champions League for the first time in two years, Carrick acknowledged the squad must be ready for the burden of additional fixture in the quality of the opposition they will face, as evidenced by the epic semi-final first leg tie between Paris St Germain and Bayern Munich, which ended 5-4 to the reigning European champions.

“You certainly want to be involved in those types of nights, late in competitions like the Champions League, of course,” said Carrick. “I've been fortunate enough to do it in the past, they're great occasions and you want to test yourself at the very, very top level.

“So that's what we're striving for, without doubt. It was a fantastic game to watch. I'm sure Woody [Jonathan Woodgate] and Johnny [Evans], as defenders, are not thinking the same as the attackers, but that's football. It was a fantastic game to watch and all to play for next week.”