Carrick has an impossible job at Man United after transfer failures

Michael Carrick is failing at Manchester United because his bosses have handed him the impossible job.

A two-year contract as head coach, with the option of a 12-month extension, was Carrick’s reward this summer for salvaging United’s season from the wreckage of Ruben Amorim’s woeful 14-month reign and delivering qualification for the UEFA Champions League. But having given Carrick the job he always wanted, United then told him he would have to do it with one arm tied behind his back after they missed out on each of his top transfer targets and left significant holes in his squad unfilled.

Welcome to reality of the modern Manchester United — the club that have made mistakes for so long under the ownership of the Glazer family and minority shareholder Jim Ratcliffe that the team are now the equivalent of a house with a leaking roof, broken plumbing and damp on the walls, with nothing but a paint brush to make everything look better.

Carrick, a midfielder who won every major honor at least once during a 12-year playing career at Old Trafford, enjoyed the good days under Sir Alex Ferguson and witnessed the start of the slide under David Moyes, Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho. But even though the 45-year-old has experienced the rough with the smooth, it is clear that he has inherited a bigger mess than any of his predecessors.

Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Fulham, earned by an 89th minute equalizer scored by Matheus Cunha, ensured that United head into the international break with five points from five games — their joint-worst start to a Premier League season. And the pressure is building on Carrick.

With less than three years of managerial experience on his CV following a stint in the EFL Championship with Middlesbrough, Carrick is underqualified for a role as demanding and difficult as the United job, but he earned the right to take it on permanently by guiding the team to a third-place finish last season.

However, after being so badly let down by the club’s transfer dealings during the summer — Carrick himself has diplomatically stuck to the club line of seeking value and financial sense in the market — he has been left with a squad that are not equipped to succeed and will also fail under whoever replaces him if he ends up losing his job soon.

With Casemiro leaving for Inter Miami as a free agent and Manuel Ugarte — now injured — deemed not good enough for United, Elliot Anderson and Mateus Fernandes were Carrick’s top two targets to rebuild his midfield this summer. But Anderson left Nottingham Forest for Manchester City in a £116 million move and Fernandes opted to leave West Ham for Tottenham rather than United for £85 million.

United also considered Newcastle midfielders Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimarães, but quickly ruled out a move for the pair, who joined Spurs (£92.5 million) and Arsenal (£75 million) respectively, due to the fees involved.

Instead, United triggered a £35 million release clause for Aston Villa’s 29-year-old Youri Tielemans and sealed a £48 million deal for Chelsea’s Andrey Santos, a player who started just 13 Premier League games last season. Carlos Baleba also joined from Brighton for £65 million last month, but the Cameroon international has yet to play having arrived with an ankle injury.

Carrick also wanted a new left back, but the club failed to sign cover, or a long-term replacement for, the 31-year-old Luke Shaw.

The transfers of Tielemans, Santos and Baleba cost a combined £150 million and that was the extent of United’s summer spending — less than half the total spent by Spurs (£315 million ) and Chelsea (£348 million), and a third of City’s outlay of £451 million. Liverpool (£227 million) and Arsenal (£195 million) also outspent United, as did promoted Ipswich (£190 million) and Hull City (£151 million).

So having restored the club to the Champions League, Carrick was rewarded with a shopping budget smaller than all of United’s so-called “Big Six” rivals and even two promoted clubs.

United’s position is that the Ratcliffe regime, led by CEO Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox, are attempting to put the club back on a stable financial footing after years of waste and excess under the Glazers.

Despite their reputation for parsimony, the Glazers have sanctioned huge spending on fees and wages, with only Chelsea and City spending more than United’s £1.8 billion over the last 10 years. A succession of lavish salaries were handed to players including David De Gea, Alexis Sánchez, Jadon Sancho, Casemiro and Marcus Rashford, and only Rashford — £325,000-a-week – remains on such high wages.

A combination of the Glazer mismanagement and Ratcliffe’s cost-cutting have left Carrick with a squad in desperate need of overhaul — only Aston Villa (28.8 years) have fielded a starting team with an average age older than United (28.3) this season — but there is no desire from those above him to invest in the players the team clearly needs.

Berrada is implementing Ratcliffe’s financial pain; Wilcox is having to find players on a restricted budget; while Carrick, and the team, are suffering as a direct consequence.

There is nobody to compete with full backs Shaw and Diogo Dalot; only two fit and experienced center backs (in Harry Maguire and Lisandro Martínez); a midfield without pace and creativity; and a forward line that has been disrupted by the return of Rashford — no goals or assists in five games this season — from his 18 months on loan at Villa and Barcelona.

So even if Carrick were to lose his job tomorrow and be replaced by a proven coach, or a rising Premier League star like Brighton’s Fabian Hürzeler or Brentford’s Keith Andrews, the issues would remain.

Quite simply, the players aren’t good enough and the club aren’t doing enough to rectify that. As impossible jobs go, United is as tough as it gets.