Jamie Carragher Critiques Manchester United's Summer Signings

Jamie Carragher has cast a sharp eye over Manchester United’s summer business and doesn’t like what he sees – starting with Youri Tielemans.

The Belgian midfielder arrived at Old Trafford from Aston Villa in a £35 million deal last month, signing a five-year contract and billed as a central figure in Michael Carrick’s midfield rebuild. On paper, it looks like a solid, Premier League-proven addition. Carragher’s problem is the timing.

Speaking on The Overlap, brought to you by Sky Bet, the former Liverpool defender admitted he can’t shake the feeling that Tielemans’ move has come a few years too late – and in the wrong direction.

Carragher said he had the thought while flicking between Manchester United’s ITV friendly against Leeds and the UEFA Super Cup clash between PSG and Aston Villa, where Tielemans was on set-piece duty.

“The thing with Tielemans, I was watching the [UEFA] Super Cup [between PSG and Aston Villa] and I’d just seen that Man United were on ITV playing Leeds, so I put it on.

“It just came to me a little bit – Tielemans was taking a corner, and it come to me, he’s a good player, don’t get me wrong. But you’d almost feel like he should have been at United a few years ago, then gone to Villa – not being at Villa, then gone to United.

“I’m not saying he’s had his best days, but it almost felt like the wrong way round. The last three years should have been at United, and then he gets sold to Villa.”

That sense of United shopping from the wrong shelf at the wrong time fed into a wider criticism of their midfield planning. While Tielemans has finally landed in Manchester, another target slipped through their fingers.

Carragher was equally unimpressed by United’s failure to push the boat out for Mateus Fernandes, who instead joined Tottenham Hotspur in one of the headline deals of the window. United held talks with West Ham over the Portuguese midfielder but stepped back when the price hit £85 million, leaving Spurs to close the deal.

For Carragher, that hesitation jarred with United’s supposed ambition.

“I was a little bit worried when I saw United linked with Fernandes because I thought that could be a good signing,” he said. “I just looked at him and his age and was surprised United didn’t go for Fernandes.

“They said it was too expensive but was it that expensive? I know £85m is a lot but you’re never going to get a really top midfielder now for £50m.”

If Carragher questioned the profile and timing of United’s moves, Paul Scholes questioned whether they have done enough at all.

The former United midfielder backed the idea that the squad remains light in key areas and pointed directly at where the club should still be working before the window shuts.

“A priority position for United... think of a position where it’s needed most,” Scholes said. “We’ve got players who can cover the forward areas – I think [Matheus] Cunha can play centre-forward, and [Bryan] Mbeumo can play centre-forward. And you’ve still got – I don’t know what’s going to happen with Marcus Rashford, but again, there’s another option in that area. I still think either centre-half or central midfielder is a priority.”

So the questions stack up. Tielemans arrives as a central piece of Carrick’s “midfield revolution”, yet two of the club’s most decorated former players are unconvinced: one querying whether United have moved for the right man at the right time, the other suggesting the core of the team still looks undercooked.

All of this swirls around as United head into their Premier League opener against newly-promoted Hull City on Saturday. The noise around their summer business will not fade quickly. It will follow Tielemans onto the pitch and into every early touch he takes in a red shirt.

If he settles quickly, dictates games and adds the control United have lacked, Carragher’s doubts will be thrown back at him. If he struggles, the narrative writes itself.

For now, the question hangs in the air: has this been the start of a carefully planned rebuild, or another summer where United realise too late that the market has run away from them?