Manchester United's Summer Transfer Dilemma: Midfield Options
Manchester United fans know this feeling far too well: stuck between fear of another reckless splurge and anxiety that the club might once again underarm a manager before a defining season.
They’ve watched fortunes vanish on the wrong players. They’ve seen windows where noise drowned out logic. So after Michael Carrick dragged this squad to a surprise third-place finish and a return to the Champions League, the expectation was clear: this summer would be decisive, and it would be big.
So far, it’s been quiet. Uncomfortably quiet.
A window stuck in neutral
As things stand, United have not officially completed a single signing. Ederson’s £35 million move from Atalanta is still waiting for the final stamp, delayed while he represented Brazil at the World Cup. The deal is considered a formality, but formality doesn’t win you points in August.
Meanwhile, the market has moved without them. Elliot Anderson has gone to Manchester City. Bruno Fernandes and Sandro Tonali have both pitched up at Spurs. United fans, who had braced themselves for a statement summer, are instead watching rivals strengthen while Old Trafford waits.
Carrick’s problem is obvious and brutal: he has to build a squad capable of fighting on four fronts in 2026-27, and his midfield has already taken a major hit. Manuel Ugarte’s serious World Cup injury has ripped a ball-winner out of the core of the team. At the very moment when midfielders are going for “mad money”, United have been forced back into that same overheated market.
They do still have options. None of them simple. All of them expensive in their own way.
Ayyoub Bouaddi – the generational temptation
Ayyoub Bouaddi was already on radar screens at Europe’s top clubs before a ball was kicked in this World Cup. His performances for Lille had marked him out as one to watch. Then came Morocco’s opener against Brazil.
Eighteen years old, on the biggest stage of his life, and he played like it was a training session. Composed on the ball, sharp without it, he dictated the rhythm in a way that made scouts sit up and fans around the world take notice.
United’s interest made immediate sense. They need exactly this profile: a midfielder who can both win the ball and use it, someone who can link phases instead of just survive them. But so does every other major club in Europe, and that’s the problem.
United are already committing significant money to Ederson. Would they really go all-in again for another midfielder of similar profile, this time at an even higher cost, and one so young? That’s the dilemma. The talent looks generational. The fee would be, too.
Sander Berge – the pragmatic route
At the other end of the spectrum sits Sander Berge, the low-cost, left-field option that simply refuses to go away.
For years, Berge was tipped for a move to the Premier League elite. It never quite materialised. He impressed at Sheffield United, had a brief spell at Burnley, then landed at Fulham in 2024. Solid, reliable, rarely spectacular, but always useful.
Now he’s back in the spotlight. His World Cup displays for Norway have reminded everyone why he was once so highly rated, and his name has inevitably been thrown into the conversation as United’s midfield urgency grows.
Would Berge transform United? No. Would he give Carrick something different at a reasonable fee? Absolutely. At 28, he offers experience, physical presence, and a calmer price point in a market gone wild. For a club scarred by overpaying, that alone makes him a serious consideration.
Carlos Baleba – talent at a ludicrous price
Carlos Baleba is the kind of player United’s hierarchy believe could become a cornerstone of their midfield. Director of football Jason Wilcox pushed hard for him last summer, but Brighton’s £100m valuation stopped talks dead.
The remarkable thing is that Brighton have not blinked. Despite Baleba enduring a relatively underwhelming 2025-26 campaign, the Seagulls are still holding out for the same eye-watering figure.
There is no question about the raw tools: Baleba is dynamic, powerful, and has the potential to dominate Premier League midfields for years. But that’s the word that keeps coming up – potential. At 22, he still has plenty to prove.
United cannot afford another nine-figure gamble on a player who might become elite. Not in this climate. Not with so many other holes to plug. However highly they rate him, that fee looks impossible to justify.
Alex Scott – the rising Premier League operator
Alex Scott represents a different kind of gamble: proven Premier League quality, but at a price that still makes the accountants wince.
The 22-year-old was central to Bournemouth’s remarkable rise last season, steering them to a historic sixth-place finish and European qualification. From a deep-lying role, he scored four goals, added two assists, and controlled games with a maturity that belied his age.
Some pundits argued he was unlucky to miss out on England’s World Cup squad. Liverpool have been strongly linked since Andoni Iraola swapped the Vitality Stadium for Anfield. Scott is clearly moving towards the top bracket of Premier League midfielders.
Bournemouth know it. They are prepared to sell, but only “at the right price”, and that price is believed to be at least £70m. For United, the question is brutal in its simplicity: does Scott justify that kind of outlay now, or are they paying tomorrow’s fee for today’s player? His ceiling looks high. The cost might be, too.
Andrey Santos – the attainable solution
Andrey Santos is the name that has split United’s online fanbase the most.
Once billed as a future Selecao star after breaking into Vasco da Gama’s first team at 16 in 2021, his trajectory has stalled rather than exploded. Despite Brazil’s obvious lack of dynamism in midfield, he didn’t even make Carlo Ancelotti’s World Cup squad. That omission raised eyebrows.
Since joining Chelsea in 2023, Santos has only really started to see meaningful minutes last season, under Liam Rosenior. For many United supporters, that makes him a hard sell as a marquee midfield fix.
Yet there is a player there. Former Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca saw him as someone capable of thriving in a deep-lying role, using his intelligence and passing range to knit play together. At 22, he still has time to grow into that projection.
The key factor, though, is availability. Chelsea are very open to selling. Compared to the nine-figure fantasy fees elsewhere in the market, Santos is the most obtainable target on United’s list. He may not be the headline act fans dreamed of when Champions League qualification was secured, but he might be the deal that actually gets done.
And that’s where United stand now: between the dream of a transformative signing and the reality of a warped market. Carrick needs midfielders. The board need to show they’ve learned from past mistakes. The clock is ticking.
Who blinks first?
