Carrick Demands More Signings as United Pursue PSG's Mbaye
Carrick lays down transfer gauntlet as United circle PSG teenager Mbaye
Manchester United are braced for a frantic finish to the transfer window, and Michael Carrick is not hiding it. He wants more players. He believes his squad needs more players. And he has made it clear the club must stretch itself if it is serious about winning again.
United are back in the Champions League next season after Carrick steered them to third place last term. That achievement has reset expectations, but it has also exposed the thinness of a group asked to fight on several fronts.
The club moved early to reshape the midfield, bringing in Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans a month ago, with Karl Darlow added to strengthen the goalkeeping department and several youngsters signed for the future. Since then, though, the market has gone quiet around Old Trafford.
Carrick is in no mood to stand still.
“We want more, we need more, we keep looking for how we can do that,” he said, underlining the urgency behind the scenes. “Money’s money, I get that.
“We feel like we have to be pushing for everything we’re involved in, while being realistic of what the recent history’s looked like over a period of time.
“For now, we’ve got to make the most of it, but we’ve got to push every boundary we can to be able to win again, basically. That’s the challenge.”
It was a pointed message: respectable league finishes are no longer enough. Depth is non-negotiable if United are to cope with the demands of domestic cups and a Champions League return.
Mbaye chase opens up
One name sits increasingly prominently on United’s attacking shortlist: Ibrahim Mbaye.
The 18-year-old Paris Saint-Germain winger has drawn interest from several clubs, but United are among those tracking him closely. And the landscape around any move has shifted.
Liverpool, who are scouring the market for wide players after Mohamed Salah’s departure, have reportedly stepped back from a deal for Mbaye. The Anfield club are instead focusing on his PSG teammate Bradley Barcola as they remodel their forward line.
That decision could clear some of the traffic in United’s path. Liverpool are said to have cooled their interest in Mbaye largely because of his £42.7m price tag, a significant figure for a teenager still battling for minutes in a star-studded PSG attack.
For Mbaye, the picture is straightforward: he is fighting for first-team opportunities in a squad stacked with forwards. For United, the equation is different but just as stark. Carrick wants more firepower and more competition out wide, and he has publicly challenged the club to “push every boundary” to make it happen.
The window is ticking down. United’s intent is not in doubt. The question now is whether that intent turns into the kind of decisive deal that matches Carrick’s ambition.
