One of the many curious aspects of the 2025-26 season was just how quiet things eventually became at Manchester United. The most supported, most discussed and, for a certain generation, most loathed team in England were certainly all over the back pages when their manager was sacked, but by Old Trafford standards, the final months of the campaign breezed by, interim head coach Michael Carrick securing Champions League football at a canter before being handed the job on a permanent basis.For the first time in three years, United could approach a new season with at most limited questions over the future of their manager. There need be no recruiting of particular targets to fit a particular system as was the case under Ruben Amorim or the influx of those familiar to Erik ten Hag. Carrick must prove he can achieve the same sort of results this season as he did last when he has to balance European fixtures with domestic commitments. However, he can at least approach that challenge with the confidence of his employers and United supporters. That is a better situation to be in than many of his predecessors.Why you should root for themWell, misery loves company, and you will never want for company as a Manchester United supporter. Consistently being the best club in England (and occasionally Europe) at the time when the Premier League was growing into one of the biggest competitions in sports has a way of drawing fans from right across the world.As for the misery, well, the post-Sir Alex Ferguson years have demanded a heavy toll for supporters reared on perennial Premier League titles. Not one in 13 years but a Europa League and some domestic silverware is hardly the worst a fanbase has had it since 2013, but that does not make it any less painful for United.
Is this team good?The third place in which United ended 2025-26 was not false by any stretch of the imagination. Carrick’s men had the third-best goal difference, the third-best expected goal difference, the third most goals scored. Without ever really getting close to Manchester City and Arsenal, the Red Devils could reasonably feel that they were the best of the rest. Compared to some of their rivals though, it is not so clear that they can repeat those levels.After all, to be the third best team in England, Manchester United needed Bruno Fernandes to deliver at record-breaking level. His 21 assists were more than any team in the Premier League. In every metric you care to mention, he was the best chance creator in the division by a ludicrous margin, providing 54% more chances and 35% more expected assists than the second best in the league for those metrics. This was the best Fernandes could be. How much lesser a team do United become if he has an 80th percentile season rather than 99th?
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We have quite a few seasons of that to go off. With a good but not great Fernandes — and a somewhat inferior supporting cast — United were not even getting close to the Champions League race. The moves this team has made over the summer should mitigate the need for Fernandes to be the best player in the league, but it would certainly help if he could keep things up.
What has changed?It is to United’s credit that they have made moves in the market to mitigate the risk of Bruno Fernandes’ form dropping off. Youri Tielemans is not a like-for-like replacement, more of a deep-lying playmaker of questionable defensive qualities but who is excellent at feeding his teammates up the field. At 29, he is not exactly one for the long term, but activating his $47.5 million release clause was hardly a stretch for United. This is one of those moves that might not propel them into title contention but at least ensures they hold firm around the top five.The same could be reported of the other midfield addition, Andrey Santos, who arrived from Chelsea for around $65 million. He will offer some of the steel that Tielemans does not in midfield, and while he is not quite a like-for-like replacement for Casemiro, who departed on a high last season, he is another of those robust signings who will raise United’s floor.That really is the way to look at what has been a really rather quiet summer under Carrick, who was handed a two-year contract in May. Even the handling of Marcus Rashford has lacked the sturm und drang of years gone by. United would like to sell him; Rashford would probably like to leave, but given that a suitor is yet to emerge, he has been quietly eased into a squad role for the time being. If that is where he lands, few managers would complain about having a forward who averaged 0.38 expected goals and 0.24 expected assists per 90 La Liga minutes last season.
In years gone by, particularly after Ten Hag’s first season and a second-placed finish under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in 2021, United have deluded themselves as to how close they might be to a title challenge. There was nothing false about last season’s third, but it was one where they were 14 points off champions with a relatively low points tally, their xG difference half of Arsenal’s.There is further work expected, perhaps a new left back and/or an extra body in midfield, but United do not have the look of a team in a hurry. After 13 years waiting for a title, they are still prepared to go the long way round.Expectations for 2026-27Though stranger things have happened than a team making up that ground in one season, United haven’t attempted this summer’s equivalent of throwing big money at Jadon Sancho and Cristiano Ronaldo for one last heave. United are building like an organization intent on stabilizing, and their midfield refit seems to be a good way of achieving that aim. A top five finish, a run to the knockouts in the Champions League, perhaps a domestic cup: it would not be the sort of season they sing “glory, glory Man United” about, but it would be a solid step in the right direction.
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