Manchester United Spent £83m This Summer. Michael Carrick Says That's Not Enough.

Michael Carrick isn't pretending Manchester United's summer shopping is done. Speaking to reporters at Carton House Hotel in Maynooth on Thursday, United's head coach made clear his squad still has holes, even after spending £83 million to sign Andrey Santos from Chelsea and Youri Tielemans from Aston Villa, according to the BBC.

"We want more, we need more, we keep looking for how we can do that," Carrick said. "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."

United can't spend like it's 2016 anymore. The club also added Karl Darlow as a free-agent backup goalkeeper, but that's the extent of the outfield business beyond Santos and Tielemans, per the BBC.

The BBC reports the club is being outspent this summer by newly promoted Ipswich Town and Coventry City. Carrick inherited a financial mess and a squad that finished third last season. It's a fact about where United sit right now, ahead of a return to Champions League football after a two-year absence.

United also missed out on two specific targets, Elliot Anderson and Matheus Fernandes, because the club refused to match rival offers, the BBC reported. Carrick isn't hiding from that either. He's framing it as financial discipline rather than a lack of ambition, but the gap between what United say they want and what they're willing to pay is real.

The Athletic, citing comments Carrick gave with Amazon documentary cameras rolling, got more specific detail on where the club still wants to improve. Asked directly about reinforcing Luke Shaw at left-back, Carrick said: "There's one or two areas where we'd like to improve and we feel that there's the possibility to improve, but again, that needs to be something that we can do that makes us better and improves the group, whether that's quality or whether that's a little bit of depth."

On a third midfield signing, he told The Athletic: "We always want to strengthen in every way. It depends on if it's going to help us, and in what ways. It can't be for the sake of it, but of course we need to improve."

The Athletic named specific names circling as possible left-back targets: Newcastle's Lewis Hall, Arsenal's Myles Lewis-Skelly, and Racing Santander's Jorge Salinas as a cheaper option. None of those are confirmed United targets, just names in the reporting. Academy left-back Harry Amass, who started United's friendly against Leeds, is expected to leave on loan given his game time this preseason, according to The Athletic.

Carrick was given multiple chances to definitively rule out a Marcus Rashford exit before the transfer window closes on September 1 and declined every one of them. "He's our player," Carrick repeated, according to the BBC.

That echoes what Carrick told ITV after United's 1-1 draw with Leeds at Croke Park in Dublin, where Rashford was left out of the matchday squad entirely, according to the Standard. "He's come back great. He's just like any other player. I've known him a long time and he gives us something a little bit different," Carrick said then.

Rashford's situation is complex. He spent last season on loan at Barcelona, scoring 14 goals with 14 assists in 47 appearances across all competitions, according to the Manchester Evening News. Barcelona held a £26 million option to buy him outright and chose not to exercise it, instead signing Anthony Gordon from Newcastle for £69 million. Barcelona coach Hansi Flick said earlier this month he would "miss" Rashford but confirmed the club wouldn't bring him back, even on loan, per the Manchester Evening News.

Rashford, now 28, is back at Old Trafford. He hadn't played for United since December 2024 before this preseason, following loan spells at Aston Villa and then Barcelona under previous manager Ruben Amorim, the Standard reported.

Carrick has been notably careful to link Rashford's situation to other returning players rather than singling him out, telling reporters Rashford wasn't the only player he'd previously coached or played alongside. Kobbie Mainoo, who dealt with his own World Cup disappointment with England, and Lisandro Martinez, still working back into full training after Argentina's run to the World Cup final, are both part of that same reintegration conversation, according to Sky Sports.

United face Amorim's AC Milan in Wroclaw in their final preseason friendly before opening the Premier League campaign away at newly promoted Hull City. Whether Carrick gets the midfield and left-back reinforcements he's publicly lobbying for will be answered before the transfer window shuts on September 1.