Jason Wilcox has become one of the most visible figures in Manchester United\u2019s latest run of trouble. With every defeat, the sporting director seems to draw more attention, while the club\u2019s wider problems continue to pile up around him.<\/p>\n
He arrived from Southampton in 2024 as technical director and was meant to work under Dan Ashworth as part of the INEOS revamp. The plan was for Wilcox to help deliver the structure set out by Ashworth and CEO Omar Berrada. Instead, after Ashworth lasted just five months, Wilcox was elevated quickly and was left with a job far bigger than the one he had previously held for a year at Southampton. United\u2019s start to 2026\/27 has since left them in the relegation zone after 10 Premier League matches, and Wilcox cannot escape responsibility.<\/p>\n
One major issue has been the appointment of Carrick on a full-time basis. The former club legend had impressed as interim boss and helped guide United to a third-placed Premier League finish and a return to Champions League soccer. But that revival had the look of something temporary, driven by momentum and helped by no European football and early cup exits. After the struggles of Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim, United needed a clearer long-term football plan. Choosing Carrick suggested Wilcox was thinking only short term.<\/p>\n
The club\u2019s recruitment has also lacked balance. Across the last two summers, United have focused on only one area at a time. In 2025, the emphasis was on attack, with Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Benjamin \u0160esko arriving, plus goalkeeper Senne Lammens. This summer, the priority shifted to central midfield, with Carlos Baleba, Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos brought in for money. That left other gaps untouched.<\/p>\n
Full back remains a problem, with Luke Shaw\u2019s fitness still a concern and Diogo Dalot and Noussair Mazraoui failing to convince. At centre back, the form and injury problems of Mart\u00ednez, Harry Maguire and Matthijs de Ligt have left United exposed. Up front, \u0160esko\u2019s shin injury, which is now set to keep him out until the new year, has increased the burden on Mbeumo. Joshua Zirkzee, with six Premier League goals in 62 appearances, is the only other senior striker.<\/p>\n
The squad itself remains badly unbalanced, with too many players signed for different managers and different systems. The exits of Antony, Alejandro Garnacho, Rasmus H\u00f8jlund, Jadon Sancho and Tyrell Malacia have been welcomed, but United still carry too much baggage. Marcus Rashford, 29, returned this summer without a clear reintegration plan, while Maguire, 33, and Shaw, 31, increasingly look like the soccer has left them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wilcox\u2019s recruitment calls, Carrick\u2019s appointment and United\u2019s imbalance are all under scrutiny.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22433,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[179,172,1397],"tags":[1836,242,182],"class_list":["post-22434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-united","category-epl","category-transfer-news","tag-2026-27-premier-league","tag-injury","tag-transfers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22434","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=22434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}