Michael Carrick has told the Manchester United hierarchy the club must 'keep moving forward' ahead of this summer's crucial transfer window. Carrick secured the United job permanently after steering the club to third place in the Premier League and back into the Champions League, having taken over from Ruben Amorim following his sacking in January.
Major Squad Changes Ahead
United have lost influential midfielder Casemiro this summer and are also set to offload Marcus Rashford, Andre Onana, Manuel Ugarte, Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund as they continue their squad rebuild. Against that backdrop, Carrick acknowledged United must get their recruitment right this summer, to keep the team and the club moving in the right direction.
'I think the beauty of the next transfer window, for everybody, it's always the biggest thing in the world, and the most important transfer window of all time, for every club, I think,' said Carrick. 'That's just the nature of how it's been created, to be honest, and I think, again, as a football club, you want to keep moving forward. We certainly do. As a football club, we want to keep moving forward.'
Work to Be Done
Carrick added: 'I think it's acknowledged we're at this stage, and the dynamics and the balance of the direction we're at, where we've ended up getting to, and finishing in the league, there's obviously work to do. It's quite obvious, with certain players leaving, there's a bit of work to do, but this one is not any more important than the last one, it's what's ahead of us as a football club to try and make the most of it.'
Asked if he expected his summer holiday plans to be thwarted by transfer business, Carrick said: 'It's the kids' exams that are getting in the way at the moment! A-levels and GCSEs, to be honest, that's stopping me from booking anything.'
Youth Players to Play Central Role
Despite the need for new additions this summer, Carrick said he had seen enough maturity among United's younger players to suggest they can play a central role in the team going forward. Carrick brought Kobbie Mainoo back into the United team after he was exiled by Amorim, while Amad, Ayden Heaven and Leny Yoro have all impressed the United head coach since he took charge.
'I've seen that, for sure,' said Carrick. 'I've seen development, a lot of development, in different ways. Some of it you see on the pitch, it's obvious it's there performance-wise, because there's a technical part of it and the players are improving in that regard.'
'I think I've said it before, but sometimes the feeling of being comfortable is the best way of being here, knowing what it feels like to play here, having an element of success, having an element of a few challenges, and you come through it and you understand what it takes to get through it.'
'I think that, as much as anything, and then you can grow, your character and personality comes out even more. I've seen that for some of the younger players, and actually not just the younger players, you can see everyone grow that little bit more when you're getting good results with good performances.'
'So I think leadership's different from everyone. I think there's some leadership examples, some show it a little bit more vocally, but you can definitely see each and every player grow when you're moving in the right direction, for sure.'
