Carrick Considers Dorgu as Solution for Left-Back Issues
Michael Carrick is weighing up a change of role for Patrick Dorgu, with the Manchester United boss admitting the 21-year-old could solve his growing left-back problem.
United ended the transfer window without securing cover for Luke Shaw, having failed with late attempts to land Alejandro Balde and Rayan Ait-Nouri. That leaves Shaw as the only specialist left-back in the squad and forces Carrick to look within his group for solutions.
Dorgu, he knows, might be one of them.
The Dane has caught the eye as a winger under Carrick, but his past points in a different direction. United signed him from Lecce for £25million in January 2025 after he had been playing as a traditional left-back in Serie A. Ruben Amorim later used him as a wing-back, and Carrick has so far deployed him exclusively on the wing.
That could soon change.
“He can certainly play there. He has done, without doubt,” Carrick said when asked about Dorgu at left-back. “I’m not sitting here saying he can’t do that. It’s just the way we’ve been since I’ve been here.”
Dorgu has started four times under Carrick but lost a big chunk of last season to a hamstring injury. He began this campaign on the wing at Hull City on the opening day, then dropped to the bench for the win over Ipswich.
For Carrick, that long lay-off makes the 21-year-old feel like a fresh arrival.
“He actually has been injured, unfortunately, for some time,” he said. “You could almost argue that he played three or four times for us last season, so for me, he’s almost like a new player, you know, to have, and it’s almost like a new signing in some ways because he’s added so much to the group.”
United are well stocked in wide areas. Dorgu has impressed on the left for his club and has even operated from the right for Denmark, where he scored a superb goal in June’s internationals from that flank in a forward role.
The full-back positions tell a different story. Behind Shaw, Carrick is looking at makeshift options such as Noussair Mazraoui and Diogo Dalot. Dorgu sits in that conversation too, with his versatility suddenly more valuable than ever.
“He’s played off the right for Denmark, scored a great goal in the summer playing off the right in a forward position,” Carrick said. “He can play left-back. He’s that type where he can do a number of things. I’m certainly not saying he can’t do that at all.”
Carrick has already seen glimpses of Dorgu in the role on the training pitch, even if he hasn’t yet turned to it in a competitive game.
“It’s something he can, we just haven’t had to explore that. At some point, we might have to, at some point he might do that. He can do that, absolutely no problem. There are times in training when he does it.
“And then he’s only young, being such a young age and having the attributes that he’s got, we’ve just got to keep trying to get the most out of him.”
The window has closed. The choices are clear. If injuries bite or form dips, Carrick may soon find out whether his “new signing” is also his next left-back.
