COUNTY KILDARE, Ireland — Michael Carrick has said Manchester United “need” more signings before the transfer deadline.
United have so far spent £85 million to bring in Andrey Santos from Chelsea and Youri Tielemans from Aston Villa.
But with just under three weeks to go before the window closes on Sept. 1, Carrick insists the club must get more new faces through the door to strengthen the squad.
“We’re delighted with the players we’ve brought in, first and foremost,” Carrick said in an interview from United’s preseason training camp in County Kildare, Ireland.
“I think we’ve improved the group, we’ve improved the squad in different ways — balance, quality and the direction we want to go in. I think we’ve done really good business and we’ve got really some top, top, top players. So we’re delighted with that.
“We always want to improve, we want to, you know, we want more, we need more, we keep looking for how we can do that, so that never stops. We’re conscious of that and we’ve got to keep pushing.”
United have been heavily linked with a move for a new left-back including Lewis Hall at Newcastle.
Sources have told ESPN that the club are also looking at adding a third new midfielder after Casemiro‘s departure and Manuel Ugarte’s knee ligament injury which will keep the Uruguayan on the sidelines for most of the season.
“There’s one or two areas where we’d like to improve and we feel that there’s the possibility to improve,” said Carrick, who added that he wouldn’t “throw out any numbers” in terms of the amount of new arrivals needed in the next 18 days.
“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. That’s something we’ve got to manage. That’s pretty obvious.”
With funds coming in from Rasmus Hojlund’s permanent move to Napoli, Radek Vítek’s transfer to Middlesbrough and a sell-on clause activated by Mason Greenwood’s switch from Marseille to Fenerbahce, United’s net spend this summer stands at around £30m.
Read more:Barcelona give Ferran Torres permission to miss training ahead of PSG move – source
Sources close to United insist there is money available in the final weeks of the window and that the club had the finances to match Tottenham’s £85m bid for Mateus Fernandes before deciding to back away.
But after Spurs also splashed out to sign Sandro Tonali, United are now the only traditional top six side to never spend £100m on a single player.
And Carrick hinted that the club might have to find a different way of competing with the likes of Arsenal and Manchester CIty.
“Money’s money, I get that,” he said.
“It’s still about the football, and that’s where the competition lies.
Read more:Man United CEO: Signing Premier League proven talent could be summer strategy again
“We feel like we’ve got to be pushing for everything that we’re involved in, understanding a little bit, being realistic of what the recent history has looked like as well, and that’s over a period of time, but then actually the confidence we’ve taken from the last few months, and what we kind of achieved in the league.
“So there’s a lot that goes into that, but certainly the situation is what it is as well, whether that’s finances or whatever. For now, we’ve got to make the most of it, but we’ve got to keep pushing, really, and push everything in every boundary that we can to be able to win again, basically.
“We’re pretty clear in the messages that we need to keep pushing and there’s certain things that we want to try and do, but it needs to be right as well.”
