Mason Mount\u2019s latest injury issue has served as a sharp reminder that Manchester United are still not fully equipped in central midfield.<\/p>\n
Since arriving from Chelsea in 2023, Mount has already missed 70 competitive United matches through injury. Much of that time has been lost to calf and hamstring problems, while his newest setback, according to BBC Sport, will keep him out of United\u2019s latest preseason friendly against Leeds United. The problem stems from an awkward kick he took against Paris Saint-Germain last Saturday.<\/p>\n
Carrick had initially described Mount\u2019s substitution as precautionary, but the fact he has not trained before the Leeds fixture reinforces the need for United to keep moving in the summer market. Central midfield has clearly been a priority, and the suggested additions of Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos would add technical quality, work rate and some of the attributes lost with Casemiro\u2019s departure. Tielemans is not a natural holding midfielder, yet he can dictate from deep with his passing range. Santos brings more athleticism, carries the ball between the lines and can surge forward himself.<\/p>\n
Even so, United still look short of a midfield disruptor, someone who can add bite alongside those options and the current pool of Kobbie Mainoo, Bruno Fernandes and, once fit, Manuel Ugarte.<\/p>\n
Mount has shown enough in preseason to suggest he can still help, especially with Fernandes and Mainoo having extra time off after the World Cup, allowing him to operate in a deeper Tielemans-style role. But his wider record is difficult to ignore. He has now been sidelined on 10 separate occasions in three years at Old Trafford, which makes reliability a concern.<\/p>\n
With United back in the Champions League, rotation and careful management of minutes will be required. Tyler Fletcher and Shea Lacey are emerging, but Carrick will still want experience to steady the first months of 2026-27. At minimum, United need a more complete midfielder, one with greater tackling power and game reading than Mount.<\/p>\n
Among the names linked are Aur\u00e9lien Tchouam\u00e9ni, Manu Kon\u00e9, Tyler Adams and Sander Berge. Yet Brighton & Hove Albion\u2019s Carlos Baleba may be the return to an old target that United are most encouraged by, especially after his valuation eased from $133 million (\u00a3100 million) following an indifferent season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mount\u2019s injury record has put United\u2019s midfield plans back under the microscope ahead of 2026-27.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18428,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1083,2019,172],"tags":[242,180,182],"class_list":["post-18429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-man-utd","category-manchester-united-news","category-epl","tag-injury","tag-player-news","tag-transfers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}