Michael Carrick has called on his Manchester United bosses to "keep pushing for more" during the transfer window after revealing he wants more quality and depth ahead of the new season.
United have spent £85million on signing Karl Darlow, Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans this summer, but it's now a month since they completed a deal and less than three weeks remain of the transfer window.
Carrick's Transfer Demands
Carrick wants more new faces in, with a left-back and central midfielder on the agenda, and he knows his squad will be tested in different ways this season, with a return to the Champions League placing a greater demand on the schedule.
Although he is happy with the business conducted so far, he feels more needs to be done to get the squad in a place to compete on four fronts this season.
"I think for us we're delighted with the players we've brought in, first and foremost," he said. "I think we've improved the group, we've improved the squad in different ways, balance, quality and the direction we want to go in.
"We always want to improve, we want more, we need more, we keep looking for how we can do that, so that never stops. We're conscious of that and we've got to keep pushing."
Spending Compared to Rivals
United have spent less than Ipswich Town and Coventry City so far this summer and they have been eclipsed by their rivals. They are the only 'big six' side not to spend £100million on a player, with Manchester City, Chelsea and Tottenham all doing that this summer. Liverpool did it twice in 2025 and could do so again if they land Bradley Barcola.
At Old Trafford, the transfer record of £89million on Paul Pogba has been unchallenged for a decade and another frugal summer looks to be in the offing.
That presents a challenge to Carrick, who has ambitions of winning the title but must compete against teams who are splashing the cash, and the United head coach admitted there might come a point when United have to smash their own transfer record.
"A little bit depends on what position that is and what you've got and what dynamics you need at certain points," he said. "Sometimes you do need that if it's the right player.
"Again, it's not purely on money, the money doesn't guarantee you, it needs to be the right player and a better player for what we've got. It's something [that] over time we need to be pushing to look to enhance the squad all the time in different ways."
Communication and Praise for Santos
Carrick said United need to "keep pushing" in relation to recruitment on four occasions during a 25-minute chat at the club's training camp in Carton House this week, but stressed his communication with director of football Jason Wilcox and chief executive Omar Berrada was good.
"It's constant communication of where, what work we need to do, where we want to improve," he said. "We're pretty clear in the messages that we need to keep pushing and there's certain things that we want to try and do, but it needs to be right as well."
While United haven't done a lot of business so far, Carrick is delighted with the signings they have made and raved about the impact Santos has had after his £50million move from Chelsea.
"Andrey, for such a young man to come in the way he's came in, his character, his personality is a dream. Literally, he's a dream," he said.
"He's so positive, so mature, so switched on; he wants to learn. He comes in straight away and he's trying to help other players and talk in games and communicate in games, and has that personality where he's got a real substance to him, and delighted to have him, delighted to have him when he came in."
