Manchester United

The 45-year-old was brought to Old Trafford by Ten Hag last summer, with the Dutchman revealing at the time that he wanted to appoint a coach "with a different voice".

Marcus Rashford said towards the end of last year that McCarthy had "definitely" played an important role in his impressive form during the 2022-23 campaign.

"He's [McCarthy] definitely helped me a lot," Rashford, who has scored 16 times for the Red Devils this season, told Sky Sports News. "To have them, attack-minded coaches, within the squad is great for us forward players. It's just day in, day out, we're thinking about scoring goals, rather than the other bits.

"We've got him always there, speaking to us about it. I think my aim is to get back to enjoying my football and at the minute I am, so I'm not complaining. If I'm scoring goals and winning, then I'm happy."

Ten Hag has now hailed the positive impact that McCarthy has had since arriving in Manchester.

"In our coaching staff, we had a lot of defenders and midfield players," said Ten Hag in a Q&A, via Man United's official website. "I wanted also to find a good balance. He is offensive [minded] as he is a former striker and that is also a really specific job task in the team.

"I never played there, so I'm lucky to have someone in my staff who played there. Football is about scoring and you have a goalkeeping specialist, but you also have offensive specialists and, in particular, we have a specific scoring trainer.

"He has to add that, in details, working and for the rest of us, he has a relationship to all the players in our squad. He also has to work on the togetherness and he is doing a great job on that."

McCarthy turned out for the likes of Ajax, Porto and Blackburn Rovers during his playing career, hanging up his boots in 2013 after a spell with Orlando Pirates.

The former South Africa international scored 37 times and registered seven assists in 120 Premier League appearances for Blackburn and West Ham United.

McCarthy started his managerial career with Cape Town City in 2017, while he was also in charge of AmaZulu before making the move to Man United over the summer.

'There was still one place in our coaching staff that I wanted to fill," Ten Hag said when the former striker arrived. "Someone with a different voice and Benni is that one. 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."

Man United will be bidding to make it 10 straight wins in all competitions when they head to Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Wednesday night.