Carrick: More signings needed at Manchester United
By Sky News, August 14, 2026Manchester United head coach Michael Carrick says the club ‘want’ and ‘need’ to do more transfer business before the summer window closes on September 1.
In preparation for his first full season in charge at Old Trafford, United have signed Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans for a combined KSh 14.84 billion while also securing goalkeeper Karl Darlow on a free transfer from Leeds.
Tynan Thompson, Kit Margetson and Cristian Orozco have also arrived but they are not expected to make immediate waves in the first-team squad. United came into the window prioritising the midfield following the departure of Casemiro, as well as bringing in a backup for newly named No 1 Senne Lammens.
In Santos, Tielemans and Darlow, United have made progress in addressing two positions. However, there has been a growing restlessness among the fanbase for more deals to be done.
Asked to assess his first summer window as head coach at United so far, Carrick says he is pleased with the players the club have brought in so far but stresses the club are pushing for additional reinforcements.
Improved the group
“We’re delighted with the players we’ve brought in, first and foremost,” Carrick told Sky Sports News. “We’ve improved the group. We’ve improved the squad in different ways. Balance, quality and the direction we want to go in.
“So the players that we’ve brought in, I think we’ve done really good business and we’ve got some top, top, top players. So we’re delighted with that. We always want to improve.
“We want more, we need more. We keep looking forward to how we can do that. So that never stops. We’re conscious of that and we’ve got to keep pushing.”
Rashford returns
Amid United’s transfer dealings, the club have welcomed back Marcus Rashford, who has been reintegrated into Carrick’s squad for pre-season.
The England international spent the duration of last season on loan at Barcelona but after the LaLiga side decided against activating their £26m buy option, Rashford returned to United.
Rashford could be set to make his first appearance for United since December 2024 this weekend in a friendly against Ruben Amorim’s AC Milan side. Rashford had fallen out with Amorim before his first loan away to Aston Villa.
Carrick says his former teammate brings something that his current squad does not have and has been impressed with his form in training.
“We’re really calm [about bringing Rashford back in],” Carrick said.
“We just treat it like anybody else coming into the group. There’s obviously this slight twist that he knows the club as well as anybody and that’s a real positive,” he said.
“He’s been here all his career, all his life before the last eight months or so to understand what it means. So that side of things is natural. That’s a given. I know we’ve got history, but I’ve got history with a number of other players as well, so that doesn’t make that a unique situation at all.
“We treat him exactly like any other player, and bring him into the group and carry on as normal.
“He brings a group of things that we haven’t got and we want to get that balance with every individual player and Marcus has come back. He’s in good form and he’s been good to have around this week.”