Are Michael Carrick’s Manchester United Really Ready For The Premier League?

Manchester United still do not have enough squad depth

Are Michael Carrick’s Manchester United really ready for the Premier League season and the 2026/27 campaign in general? For me, the biggest issue that many United fans still have is that the squad simply does not have enough depth, and the club have not been active enough in the transfer window to solve that problem.

There is understandable frustration towards the people higher up at the club because supporters were promised progress when INEOS took over part of Manchester United, yet United still seem to be going into another season with the same questions surrounding the squad.

🚨🗣️ Jamie Carragher on Michael Carrick:

"I'm not saying it's going to go wrong. What Manchester United have had for the last six months, need that for another 12 months of not being the circus, not being the story all the time, and Carrick brings you that.

I personally just… pic.twitter.com/mB2Jf5cYrY

— UtdXclusive (@UtdXclusive) August 17, 2026

Pre-season is now over and United are coming off a 4-2 defeat to Ruben Amorim’s AC Milan, which has led to plenty of people asking whether Amorim was really the problem during his time at Old Trafford. I think the answer is partly yes and partly no, because while the players clearly have to take responsibility, Amorim was never able to build any real momentum during his spell at United.

Carrick, on the other hand, showed last season that he could get more out of the squad and bring some momentum back to the club, which is why now is not the time to suddenly turn on another manager before the season has even started.

The midfield still looks unfinished

United have tried to make progress in midfield this summer by bringing in Youri Tielemans and André Santos, and I do believe that good will eventually come from those signings, but the problem is that there still does not seem to be enough behind them.

Against AC Milan, the midfield of Tielemans, Santos and Bruno Fernandes looked shaky at times, while Kobbie Mainoo did appear to steady things slightly when he came on, but none of the combinations looked completely settled.

Carrick is too nice for his own good man… if Amorim got this transfer window after securing Champions League football, he would’ve already punched Wilcox in the face and called Ratcliffe an old tw*t.

— Martien 🇳🇱 (@MartienBall) August 17, 2026

That will obviously take time, but the bigger concern is what happens when injuries start to appear because it currently feels like Tielemans, Santos and Bruno are the main options and after that the choices become much less convincing.

Manuel Ugarte has struggled with injuries and, in my opinion, has not done enough anyway, while Mason Mount can be a fantastic squad player on his day but simply cannot be relied upon because of how frequently fitness problems interrupt him.

United need players Carrick can actually trust throughout an entire season rather than just having a strong starting eleven on paper.

Playing twice a week changes everything

The biggest difference this season is that Manchester United are going to be playing Champions League football, which means Carrick will now have to deal with playing twice a week rather than having the luxury of one match every seven days.

Last season, Carrick was able to focus almost entirely on the Premier League because United had already been knocked out of the domestic cup competitions, and I do not think people realise just how big a difference that can make.

When you start playing Champions League football in midweek before another Premier League match a few days later, players become fatigued, injuries happen more frequently and squad rotation becomes absolutely essential.

That is why I am confused about what the plan from INEOS actually is, because United need more players if they genuinely want to compete across the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup.

Look at teams such as Arsenal and Manchester City, who have been able to compete consistently because they have strong squads rather than simply relying on eleven players, and even Leicester City’s title-winning team benefited massively from having reliable options throughout the squad.

United have never seemed able to build that same level of depth, and that is something that continues to let them down.

AC Milan exposed the problem at the perfect time

You cannot overreact to a pre-season friendly, but the defeat to AC Milan exposed some of the exact issues United need to address before the competitive football begins.

United led twice and still ended up losing 4-2, with the defence looking all over the place at times and individual mistakes allowing Milan back into the game.

The midfield market for Carrick may depend on market opportunities. If no good opportunity arises, United will stick with the current squad (@FabrizioRomano)

— The United Stand (@UnitedStandMUFC) August 18, 2026

Players such as Lisandro Martínez, Matthijs de Ligt and Mason Mount can all be excellent when available, but Carrick needs reliable alternatives because injuries are inevitably going to happen over a long season.

Benjamin Šeško is already sidelined, while several other players have had fitness problems, and that should be another warning to the club that the squad is still not strong enough.

Carrick has shown during pre-season that there is a clear style of football developing at Manchester United, but the question is how he is supposed to make that style work week after week if he does not have enough players capable of performing it.

For me, United may be ready to start the Premier League season, but they are not yet ready for the demands of the entire season, and unless INEOS give Michael Carrick more help before the transfer window closes, they risk setting him up to fail.