Michael Carrick begins his first full season as Manchester United head coach at Hull City on 22 August, and he has spent the build-up asking, publicly and repeatedly, for more players. "We want more, we need more, we keep looking for how we can do that," he said at United's pre-season camp in County Kildare. Two days later his side finished their summer by losing 4-2 to an AC Milan team managed by the man he replaced.
The window as it stands
United have spent about £85m this summer on Andrey Santos from Chelsea and Youri Tielemans from Aston Villa, and added the out-of-contract goalkeeper Karl Darlow. Set against the money going the other way, from Rasmus Hojlund's permanent move to Napoli, Radek Vítek's transfer to Middlesbrough and a sell-on clause triggered by Mason Greenwood's switch from Marseille to Fenerbahce, the net spend stands at around £30m. That is less than newly promoted Ipswich and Coventry have laid out.
The gaps are not mysterious. Casemiro has gone and Manuel Ugarte's knee ligament injury will keep him out for most of the season, leaving a hole in central midfield that Tielemans and Santos were not signed to fill between them. United are understood to be looking at a third midfielder as well as a left-back. They pulled out of the race for Elliot Anderson rather than match a rival offer, and are understood to have had the funds to match an £85m bid from Tottenham for another midfield target before deciding to back away. They remain the only one of the traditional top six never to have spent £100m on a single player.