The transfer window closed on Monday with no new signings for Manchester United. This was to be expected. The club did their main deals before the season started, bringing in Bryan Mbuemo, Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko for significant fees.
Adding a goalkeeper Senne Lammens took the spending to over £212 million, though money was recouped for the sales of Alejandro Garnacho (£40 million) and Antony (£20 million). Loan deals for Marcus Rashford (Barcelona, plus a buy option), Rasmus Hojlund (Napoli £5 million fee, £38 million buy option), Jadon Sancho (Aston Villa) and Andre Onana (Trabzonspor) took those players' substantial wages off United’s books.
United’s net spend of £675 million over the past five seasons is the highest in English football. That much of that outlay did not achieve its aim of returning United to greatness is a reason why the Old Trafford club have to watch their finances.
Big spenders, United needed to improve how they became big sellers rather than shifting players for a fraction of what they paid for them. It’s one reason why the club were losing £90 million per season before drastic cost cuts, which saw two waves of redundancies in 2024 and 2025.
With no European football this season, United didn’t need a huge squad. Going out of both domestic cup competitions at the first hurdle meant even fewer reasons to add to it. United will play only 40 competitive games this season, down from an average of 55 in recent years and 60 last term. It’s a huge drop-off, and the club hoped that’s where they hit bottom in a rebuild led by new decision-makers after Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos group took control of running the football club at the start of 2024.
Under them, United’s aim is to win the Premier League by 2028 and the club’s 150th anniversary, something which looked optimistic at the end of last term when the team finished 15th, their lowest league position for 50 years. It looks more possible now: United are fourth having defeated leaders Arsenal away and second-placed Manchester City in recent weeks, playing superbly and much like that venerated English side, Manchester United.
United win Manchester derby - in pictures
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Manchester United's Bryan Mbeumo celebrates with Amad Diallo after scoring the opening goal against Manchester City at Old Trafford. AFP -
Patrick Dorgu of Manchester United scores his team's second goal against Manchester City. Getty Images -
Manchester United minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe at Old Trafford. Getty Images -
Manchester City's Gianluigi Donnarumma saves a shot from Manchester United's Casemiro. AFP -
Patrick Dorgu after scoring Manchester United's second goal at Old Trafford. Getty Images -
Michael Carrick embraces Bryan Mbeumo. Getty Images -
Manchester City's Erling Haaland. Getty Images
No Premier League side has an unbeaten record as long as United’s seven-game streak right now, but nor are any fans getting carried away. This has been a roller-coaster season, one where coach Ruben Amorim departed having been publicly critical of his bosses twice at the start of January.
Amorim was so well supported both by the club and by United fans that outsiders were baffled. He improved the league form this season and made tough decisions to get a better dressing room, but home performances were poor against lower-placed teams and criticism of him grew.
Former midfielder Darren Fletcher took over for two games as an interim, then another former midfielder Michael Carrick until the end of the season. Carrick has won his first three games in charge, against City, Arsenal and Fulham, lifting the mood and United into a fourth spot, which would be sufficient for Uefa Champions League qualification.
Finishing high enough to play European football next season has always been United’s aim for this season, and the club are on target to hit that with 14 games to play. In the summer, they can reconfigure how big the squad needs to be.
A priority is a midfielder to replace the out-going and in-form Brazilian Casemiro. Removing his vast wages will also reduce the bill. Elliot Anderson of Nottingham Forest is the No 1 target, though he has several suitors including Manchester City. Adam Wharton of Crystal Palace and Carlos Baleba of Brighton have both been of interest and United have other players being watched in that position. None of them were gettable in January, though the club did try for Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo as he had a fixed buy-out clause. Semenyo chose to join Manchester City instead, though a wide left player is also a target for United.
To bring players in during the January transfer window, existing players needed to be moved on. Roma were interested in taking Dutch forward Joshua Zirkzee back to Italy, but United did not want players to leave on loan for free. The club’s view was that they weren’t in the business of paying expensive footballers who they then let other clubs take for no fees.
Uruguayan midfielder Manuel Ugarte was also of interest to other clubs and, like Zirkzee, he wants to play ahead of the World Cup finals this summer. But, again, United did not want to thin the squad out.
United’s injury list is a light one at present and limited chiefly to defender Mathijs de Ligt and flying wide man Patrick Dorgu, who started 2026 so well. It has helped immensely that central defenders Lisandro Martinez and Harry Maguire are back from injury and playing so well together as a partnership.
With the Africa Cup of Nations concluded, key players Mbeumo, Amad Diallo and Noussair Mazraoui are back at Old Trafford. Carrick has benefitted when making his selections, and he’s also brought Mancunian midfielder Kobbie Mainoo back into the starting XI.
Mainoo, 20, hadn’t started a single league game this season until Amorim’s departure in January. Under Carrick, he’s played 90 minutes in all three matches – all of them wins. United now have as many wins after 24 league games as in the whole of last season – not that a dire season 2024/25 should be the benchmark for any Manchester United side.
Several players did leave the club in the January window, with midfielder Toby Collyer, 22, perhaps the best known. He’s joined Championship high-flyers Hull City.
There will be more departures with Casemiro, who WIll be a significant miss, while Maguire is out of contract in June. United have yet to make him a new offer and will be weighing up how he and the other defenders perform, plus how the other transfer movement goes. United have maintained that they want a defensive leader and that a squad capable of winning the league is still two or three years away, but the recruitment has been encouraging in the Past year.
There will be judgments, too, about Carrick, who has enjoyed an excellent start. The man he beat for the job, his close friend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, always maintained that Carrick would manage United one day. Carrick has brought in a coaching staff stuffed with experience, especially assistant coach Steve Holland, a childhood United fan from Greater Manchester who used to watch his team home and away before he became better known as a coach with Chelsea and under Gareth Southgate with the England national team.
Carrick took charge of United during a turbulent period, but there are clear signs of improvement and there were before he took over. He’s steadied a huge ship, now he must sail it to the calmer waters of a top-six finish and European football.
