Carrick Rules Out Firesale as Man Utd Eye Late Transfers
Manchester United are gearing up for a frantic finish to the summer window, but Michael Carrick insists one thing is off the table: a firesale.
With 10 days left for Premier League clubs to do business, United are working on a third midfield arrival and want cover at left-back. Senior outgoings, though, have barely flickered into life – and Carrick does not expect that to change.
Asked directly if any player had told him they wanted out before the deadline, the United head coach was blunt.
“Not to me, no,” he said. Pressed on whether he expects the group to stay intact until at least January, he replied: “Yeah, at least. I don't know what's going to come out, you know. I don't know what's going to come at us from elsewhere.
“We can control what we can control. I'm really happy with the squad we've got so far, and if not, we want to improve it.”
Quiet on exits, busy on the board
United’s summer has been defined less by departures and more by dead ends.
Manuel Ugarte looked set to leave before a serious knee injury at the World Cup halted everything. Marcus Rashford had a £26million option on the table from Barcelona, but the Catalan club chose not to trigger it. Andre Onana, who United were prepared to sell, is back for another season-long loan instead.
Joshua Zirkzee is the one name that refuses to go away. The Dutch forward pushed for a move in January in search of regular starts, was blocked, and then missed out on the Netherlands’ World Cup squad. Interest from Italy has resurfaced and could sharpen in the final days of the window.
Even there, Carrick struck a calm tone. There might be movement, but as things stand, nobody has walked into his office and asked to go.
Transfers without the drama
United have already added Karl Darlow, Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans, and Carrick has cut a notably relaxed figure around transfer talk all pre-season.
He has been clear the club must “keep pushing” in the market, but he has stopped well short of the public agitation that once dominated United’s summer tours.
Jose Mourinho famously declared himself “not happy” with the club’s business during the 2018 trip to the United States. His relationship with then-executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward unravelled in plain sight, and Carrick, newly on Mourinho’s staff at the time, had a front-row seat.
This time, there is no public power struggle, no thinly veiled digs. When it was suggested he might have taken lessons from that chaotic summer, Carrick chose to talk about planning and rhythm instead.
“I've been really happy with the structure [of pre-season],” he said. “It would have been nice to have more players back early, but at the same time, it was nice to see some of the boys go far in the World Cup as well.
“But yeah, certainly as a structure and as a flow and how the boys have come back, how they've trained, what the group looks like. I think we can be happy with a lot of that.”
He knows, though, that neat planning in July and August only counts for so much once the real games start.
“We all know pre-season is one thing, and once the start of the season gets going, it's a whole different story. So I think it just gives you the chance for the foundation to be able to move, and we've got to take big steps as the season goes on to move forward.”
United will chase those final signings. Rivals will test their resolve over fringe players. Agents will circle.
Carrick, for now, is betting on continuity – and on this squad taking those “big steps” with him, not away from him.
