Michael Carrick believes Manchester United's midfield must evolve following Casemiro's departure. United planned to overhaul their midfield this summer and two signings have been made so far, with Andrey Santos arriving from Chelsea in a £50million deal and Youri Tielemans being signed from Aston Villa for £35m.
Third signing expected
Carlos Baleba is expected to become United's third midfield addition of the transfer window. The Reds have submitted an initial bid of £60m plus £5m in add-ons to sign Baleba from Brighton, and there is optimism that a deal can be struck.
United are hopeful they can reach an agreement to sign Baleba for under £75m, which would bring the total spend on midfielders in the summer transfer window to around £160m. The midfield was identified as the priority ahead of the summer transfer window, and United hope the new recruits will fill the void left by Casemiro and help the team take another step forward.
Carrick on evolution and balance
"I think players have always come and gone through history here," Carrick said of the midfield rebuild after Casemiro's exit. "You've got to evolve, you've got to find ways of moving forward, you've got to find ways of winning, essentially. I know we've got a good midfield. We've brought in some really, really top players and really good characters, which is important."
"And we've got to evolve, we've got to evolve and we've got to improve." Carrick was asked whether he felt a third midfield signing was necessary before the window closed. "As I said before, we're trying to improve the squad all the time," he replied.
"We're working towards that. I think largely we've got a really good balance within the group. As it stands now, we've got some very good, top midfielders to choose from. So I think we've improved that."
Market context and value
"As I said, since the start of the window to the end, we'll see what happens, you know. As I said, we want to finish stronger as the window closes, so we're working towards that." United's top midfield target Elliot Anderson signed for Manchester City for £116m earlier in the window. The club then turned their attention to Mateus Fernandes from West Ham, but he joined Tottenham for £85m.
Santos and Tielemans were then signed for the same price as Spurs paid for Fernandes. "There are certainly players who have gone for and been more expensive, I think that's pretty obvious," said Carrick of the market.
"We're delighted with the two that we've brought in, I think, and for the money, of course, but actually take that away, I'm delighted that we've got them. Two fantastic players give us really good balance, give us a lot within the team, offer us different things."
"But certainly yeah, for the value that we feel we've got, I think we've done very well with them two especially."
