Paul Ince Baffled by £50m Andrey Santos Signing as He Supports Mainoo and Rashford
Paul Ince has never been one to tiptoe around an opinion. Looking at Manchester United’s latest midfield rebuild, he doesn’t bother now either.
The former United and England midfielder admits he is “baffled” by the club’s decision to spend around £50million on Andrey Santos from Chelsea, questioning why such a fee has been thrown at a 22-year-old when Kobbie Mainoo is already emerging from the academy.
“They’ve signed the lad Santos from Chelsea for £50m, which is a lot of money for someone like him. I think the jury’s still out on that one,” Ince told Oddschecker, before laying out the heart of his concern. Spending that kind of money on a young central midfielder “when you’ve got Mainoo coming through the ranks,” he said, “kind of baffled me a bit.”
United’s summer has been shaped by the need to reconstruct the centre of the pitch after Casemiro’s departure. Last year, the focus was the attack, with Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko arriving for a combined fee of about £200m to jolt a misfiring frontline. This time, the club has turned the spotlight on the engine room.
Elliot Anderson, Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes were all pursued. All slipped away. Anderson chose Manchester City. Tonali and Fernandes headed to Tottenham. United moved on quickly, pushing hard for Santos and striking a deal with Chelsea.
The churn did not stop there. After rowing back on a move for Brazilian midfielder Ederson, United activated a £35m release clause to bring in Youri Tielemans from Aston Villa. Ince has no doubts about that one.
“Obviously Tielemans I think is a fantastic player. More of a Fernandes type of player, but a very good player,” he said, adding that United are still trying to get Ederson from Atalanta over the line. Ince’s view is clear: United needed numbers in midfield, and they now have them.
“So, they’ve got a whole load of midfield players in that position which needed to be strengthened,” he said. The question, in his eyes, is not whether they have options. It is who Michael Carrick trusts to anchor his side.
Mainoo at the heart of it?
For Ince, the answer sits in front of him. Kobbie Mainoo.
“I think he’s the man who can play that role,” Ince insisted. “He’s young, he’s got legs, he can keep hold of the ball.” The praise carries weight from a man who spent two decades patrolling elite midfields.
Ince admits he once wanted more from Mainoo. Early on, he felt the youngster played within himself. “When I watched him, he kind of did things easy, got it, passed it,” he said. That is not enough for the role Ince knows so well. “When you play that role, and I’ve played that role for 20 years, you’ve got to do more than that. You’ve got to get forward, get into the box, and take shots.”
The turning point, in his eyes, came late last season. Mainoo started to tackle harder, win more duels, drive play, arrive in the box, and influence games in both directions. “He just did the simple things,” Ince said of the earlier version. “Towards the back end of the season, he started to tackle, win balls, set things up, get himself in the box, make things happen. And he looks a completely different player.”
If Mainoo can reproduce that form over the coming campaign, Ince believes United will be in a far stronger place, regardless of the Santos fee. The raw materials are there. The challenge now lies with Carrick.
Carrick’s midfield puzzle
Carrick’s first full pre-season in charge is already throwing up selection dilemmas. Tielemans brings guile and goals from deeper areas, a profile Ince likens to Bruno Fernandes. Santos arrives as a big-money project. Ederson could yet follow. Mainoo is pushing to be the heartbeat.
“I like Tielemans, I think Tielemans is more of a Fernandes type of player. I like Ederson, I think Ederson was brilliant,” Ince said. He knows Champions League qualification raises the bar. “The fact that United are in the Champions League, they need to start building a stronger squad.”
The structure of that squad, and the hierarchy in midfield, will define Carrick’s United. Does he lean into Mainoo as his central pillar? Does Santos justify his fee quickly enough to start? Can Tielemans and Fernandes coexist without unbalancing the side?
Those are tactical questions for the manager. Ince will be watching closely.
Rashford at a crossroads
Midfield is not the only live issue at Old Trafford. The future of Marcus Rashford remains one of the most delicate topics of the summer.
Rashford, who endured a bruising spell under Ruben Amorim, rebuilt his confidence on loan at Barcelona last season, scoring goals, stretching defences and looking, in Ince’s words, “a completely, completely different player.” The expectation, at one stage, was that Barcelona might try to keep him permanently. Instead, they turned to Anthony Gordon for £75m.
“And then to go and buy Gordon for 75 million. It absolutely kills him,” Ince said. A door that looked ajar slammed shut.
Rashford still flashed his quality on the biggest stage, scoring a superb World Cup goal cutting in from the left and finding the bottom corner. Those moments stick in Ince’s mind. “He’s got that magic, he’s got that talent,” he said. The frustration, as he sees it, is that Rashford’s club situation remains unresolved.
“I kind of feel for Rashford. I really do because I think he’s a fantastic player,” Ince said. “He can play off the left, he can play off the right.” The problem, he believes, is uncertainty. “At the moment he’s a bit unsure of his future. He doesn’t know whether he’s coming or going.”
Reports suggest Carrick is ready to offer Rashford a route back, a chance to resurrect his United career after that productive spell in Spain. Ince is convinced the manager holds the key.
“I think Carrick can get the best out of him. I really, really do,” he said. The method, in his eyes, is simple: clarity and trust. “If Carrick just puts his arm around him and says, ‘Yeah, listen, you know, I want you at the club, I need you at the club. This is where you’re going to play. This is what you’re going to do.’ Then I believe you’re going to see a very, very good Rashford for Manchester United.”
He ends with hope, not doubt. “Fingers crossed that’s the case. But there’s one thing for sure, he is a very, very talented player and if he’s happy, he’ll perform for you.”
Pre-season clues before the real judgement
On the pitch, the early signs of Carrick’s United have been mixed. A flat 1-0 defeat to Wrexham in Helsinki opened their pre-season schedule and raised the first questions. The response was emphatic: a 5-0 demolition of Rosenborg, the kind of scoreline that eases tension and buys a little breathing space.
Atletico Madrid await in Stockholm this weekend, a sterner test of the evolving structure and those crowded midfield options. Paris Saint-Germain, Leeds United and AC Milan follow, a trio of fixtures that will sharpen Carrick’s choices ahead of the Premier League opener away to newly promoted Hull City on August 22.
By then, the noise around Santos’s price tag, Mainoo’s role and Rashford’s future will not have vanished. It will collide with reality. Carrick must decide who he trusts when the points start to count and the Champions League anthem returns to Old Trafford.
United have spent heavily. They have stockpiled talent. Now comes the only verdict that matters: how this squad looks when the whistle blows in August and the season starts to write its own truths.
