Michael Carrick discusses Manchester United's midfield evolution
Manchester United’s midfield is being torn up and stitched back together, and Michael Carrick is clear about why. Casemiro has gone. The structure that once revolved around him cannot simply be patched up. It has to change.
United have already committed heavily to that idea. Andrey Santos has arrived from Chelsea in a £50 million move, Youri Tielemans has come in from Aston Villa for £35m, and the club are deep in talks for a third piece of the puzzle.
Brighton’s Carlos Baleba is next in line. United have lodged an offer worth £60m plus £5m in add-ons and believe a deal can be closed at under £75m. If that happens, the club will have spent around £160m on midfielders in a single summer – a clear statement that this is the area they believe will define the next phase of the team.
Carrick, speaking in the wake of Casemiro’s departure, didn’t dress it up.
“Players have always come and gone through history here,” he said. “You’ve got to evolve, you’ve got to find ways of moving forward, you've got to find ways of winning, essentially.
“I know we’ve got a good midfield. We’ve brought in some really, really top players and really good characters, which is important.
“And we’ve got to evolve, we’ve got to evolve and we’ve got to improve.”
The message is repetitive by design. Carrick wants the word “evolve” to stick.
United had identified midfield as the priority long before the window opened. Casemiro’s exit simply sharpened the focus. The aim now is that Santos and Tielemans, and potentially Baleba, don’t just plug a gap but drag the side up a level.
When asked outright if a third signing in that area is essential before the deadline, Carrick kept his line but didn’t hide the intent.
“As I said before, we’re trying to improve the squad all the time,” he replied. “We’re working towards that.
“I think largely we’ve got a really good balance within the group. As it stands now, we’ve got some very good, top midfielders to choose from. So I think we’ve improved that.
“As I said, since the start of the window to the end, we’ll see what happens, you know. As I said, we want to finish stronger as the window closes, so we’re working towards that.”
This rebuild has not followed the club’s original script. United’s top midfield target Elliot Anderson went to Manchester City earlier in the window for £116m. That forced a change of course. The focus then shifted to Mateus Fernandes at West Ham, only for Tottenham to step in and seal an £85m deal.
United pivoted again. Santos and Tielemans came in for a combined fee roughly matching what Spurs paid for Fernandes. Different profiles, different paths, but – in Carrick’s eyes – smart business in a market that has lost all sense of restraint.
“There are certainly players who have gone for and been more expensive, I think that’s pretty obvious,” he said of the current landscape.
“We’re delighted with the two that we’ve brought in, I think, and for the money, of course, but actually take that away, I’m delighted that we’ve got them.
“Two fantastic players give us really good balance, give us a lot within the team, offer us different things.
“But certainly yeah, for the value that we feel we’ve got, I think we’ve done very well with them two especially.”
United’s midfield, once built around a veteran destroyer, is being recast with younger legs, different profiles and a hefty financial gamble. The club insists it’s evolution, not panic.
If Baleba follows Santos and Tielemans through the door, the question will no longer be about value or volume. It will be whether this £160m rebuild can finally give United a midfield that looks ready for the modern game.
