Michael Carrick has articulated a clear mandate after being confirmed as Manchester United’s permanent manager. His initial comments underline an awareness of the club’s expectations and of where success must be measured.

In recent years Liverpool have matched United’s record of 20 English league championships. Manchester City have risen to 10 all-time titles, having been on just three when Ferguson lifted his final trophy 13 years ago. Those shifts in the domestic landscape frame the scale of the task Carrick inherits.

United have not been in a position to seriously challenge for a long time, yet the transformation Carrick has overseen since returning to Old Trafford as interim boss in January has been described as monumental. No Premier League team has matched United for Premier League points—36 from a possible 48 across 16 matches—during that period.

“[Winning titles is] where we want to be as a club and it’s not even so much for me. It’d be an incredible thing for me to be able to do, but just to see this club lifting trophies and winning leagues and challenging for Champions Leagues, that’s the buzz,” Carrick said in his first interview with his new title, speaking to ex-teammate Wayne Rooney for a special of the club’s in-house podcast .

“That’s what gets us out of bed every morning and [we want to] enjoy the grind of the summer and come back stronger for next season.”

The expectations at Manchester United remain exacting. Louis van Gaal and José Mourinho did ensure the club lifted three trophies in the first four years after Ferguson’s retirement, but neither came close to winning the Premier League and neither avoided being fired. That history is a reminder of the high bar Carrick must clear if his tenure is to be judged a success.

Carrick’s early record since January gives him a platform. The task now is to convert that momentum into sustained title bids and continental progress while meeting the standards the club and its supporters demand.

There was plenty to celebrate at the end of Manchester United’s final home game of the 2025–26 season as Bruno Fernandes finally reached the 20-assist mark for the campaign. Since the Premier League began in 1992, only Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne have reached that same figure, a milestone that has attracted scrutiny on how assists are recorded.

De Bruyne has long argued he was denied a higher total in 2019-20. After setting up Raheem Sterling for City’s third in a 5-0 win over Norwich City during the Project Restart period, and being named player of the match, he was told he had equalled Henry’s record. He told City’s in-house media channel: “In my mind, I’m on 22 [assists]. I’ve been stolen twice by the league—especially away at Arsenal. But, in the end, you get what they say.”

The contentious example came in a 3-0 win at Arsenal where De Bruyne’s pass to Sterling was later judged to have taken a touch off Calum Chambers. At the time, the Premier League’s official X account claimed De Bruyne had taken his tally to 10 goals created. A review by Opta, the league’s official stats provider, deemed the cross not to meet the threshold for an assist. That decision sits uneasily with Opta’s own wording: “If the assist is deflected by an opposition player,” the definition reads, “it must be deemed as traveling to the goalscorer irrespective of the deflection.” De Bruyne’s delivery did not appear to change direction markedly after brushing Chambers’s studs, yet it was removed from the records. The Premier League’s montage marking De Bruyne’s 100 assists even began with that disputed clip.

Fernandes experienced a similar twist of fate this season when a header for Benjamin Šeško against Liverpool was touched by Freddie Woodman and removed from the record. When the mark did arrive against Forest, Fernandes was foremost about his teammates and Bryan Mbeumo’s finish. “I wouldn’t say relieved, but very happy, very proud,” he reflected after the game. “Obviously, everyone knows it was something that, when you start getting close to that, you start thinking a lot. A good thing is that it doesn’t change the way I play because I’m there to serve my teammates, try to make them score goals.

“I’m very grateful to see their reaction more than mine because I wanted Bryan to celebrate his goal. I didn’t want to make it about myself because at the end of the day scoring the goal is the biggest thing in football. And all credit to Bryan because if he doesn’t put it in the back of the net, my record will not be there. So these records only come if your teammates do the things right as you do.”

Kobbie Mainoo has spoken candidly about a difficult spell on the fringes of the Manchester United team under Ruben Amorim. The midfielder described the challenge of going from regular appearances to being largely omitted from matchday action when Amorim adopted a 3-4-2-1 formation that, in the manager’s view, left him outside the system.

“When there’s new managers, they have their way that they want to play and if they think you don’t fit that, then you don’t fit that,” Mainoo told Sky Sports. “Going from playing nearly every game to not playing as often is always going to be a difficult adjustment.” He added: “It’s difficult when you don’t even come on as a sub of course. But I’d say my family and my friends helped me see the light at the end of the tunnel. They knew it would swing back my way at some point, so I just had to be patient.”

Rather than react publicly, Mainoo used the period on the sidelines to focus on his routine and preparation. “All I can do is try and work and train to maybe see it in a different light,” he said, crediting teammates Casemiro and Joshua Zirkzee for support. “It was good for me in terms of learning [about] myself, the game and patience. How to schedule my life and how I train and how I work and getting into routines.”

He admitted he considered a move last summer but that the club turned down the request. “When you’re not playing many games, or any games, you consider all things,” Mainoo said. “But at the forefront of my mind was always to play for Manchester United and continue to play for this club that I’ve grown up at.”

When Michael Carrick became interim manager in January he reinstated Mainoo into a 4-2-3-1 alongside Casemiro, and the midfielder’s form returned. That resurgence led to a new contract running to 2031 with a reported increase to £150,000 ($202,000) per week. Mainoo’s return contributed to United securing a place in next season’s Champions League while Liverpool and Chelsea flounder below them. Carrick is reportedly in talks to become the permanent manager, and Mainoo has spoken highly of him.