Manchester United\u2019s summer business focused squarely on correcting the balance of the squad, with four first-team arrivals added after a year spent rebuilding the attack. The club also brought in veteran goalkeeper Karl Darlow on a free, taking total spending to $207.2 million (\u00a3155 million) across those three transfers.<\/p>\n
The major priority was central midfield. That area had been left exposed last season, with Casemiro departing when his contract expired and Manuel Ugarte sidelined by a long-term injury. As a result, Michael Carrick now has four senior players for the two midfield roles, while Tyler Fletcher offers an academy option and Bruno Fernandes could also move deeper from No. 10.<\/p>\n
United\u2019s summer intake was not limited to the senior group. Tynan Thompson, Cristian Orozco and Kit Margetson were added for the U-21s, and the club hopes at least one of them can eventually push into the first team. Thompson appears the likeliest to do so this season. His move from Tottenham Hotspur has been compared with Ayden Heaven\u2019s switch to Old Trafford from Arsenal in January 2025. Thompson also received \u2018List A\u2019 status for the Champions League league phase, which leaves the door open, although none of the three youngsters has yet been named in a senior matchday squad.<\/p>\n
At this early stage, Carlos Baleba sits bottom of the ranking only because he has not yet played. The Cameroon international was recovering from an ankle injury when the $93.6 million (\u00a370 million) deal was agreed, having missed Brighton\u2019s entire preseason. His first weeks as a Manchester United player have been spent continuing that recovery. He was on the bench for the first time in the 1\u20131 draw with Fulham before the international break, and a debut is expected when the Premier League returns in October. United lack a defensive midfielder of his type, so he could rise quickly once he features.<\/p>\n
Darlow has had the most limited role of all. The 35-year-old was brought in as experienced cover after Altay Bay\u0131nd\u0131r moved on, with Senne Lammens established as the starting goalkeeper. So far, Darlow\u2019s only appearance came in the Carabao Cup against Brighton, and further opportunities look unlikely unless Lammens is injured.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Manchester United\u2019s summer signings are assessed after a major midfield rebuild and limited early minutes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20161,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[179,2028],"tags":[1047,180,182],"class_list":["post-20162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-united","category-manchester-united-transfer-news","tag-champions-league","tag-player-news","tag-transfers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20162","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=20162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}