Carrick insists on no £100m signing as Rashford situation unfolds

Michael Carrick has drawn a clear line under Manchester United’s summer spending, insisting there will be no £100m headline signing – and that Marcus Rashford remains “our player” despite both club and forward leaning towards a parting of ways.

United have already committed £85m in this window on Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos, but they have still never broken the £100m barrier on a single player. Across town and around the traditional top six, that ceiling has long since been smashed: Manchester City, Tottenham, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea have all dipped into nine-figure territory in recent years.

United, for now, are choosing a different route.

“Money’s money. I get that,” Carrick said when asked how his side can compete with their heavyweight rivals in the market. “It’s still about football and that’s where the competition lies. What we feel naturally as a group is to try and win games. So there’s a lot that goes into that, but certainly the situation is what it is as well, whether that’s finances or whatever.”

Carrick steered United to third place last season and with it a return to the Champions League. The obvious question followed: why can’t that money be thrown at elite, top-end signings?

“To be honest, I haven’t got the answers for that. We’re working with pushing everything that we can to make the best of it,” he replied. “For now, we’ve got to make the most of it, push everything in every boundary that we can to be able to win again, basically.”

Can United win it without a £100m star?

The 45-year-old was pressed on whether a title is realistic without a single £100m player in his squad. His answer was nuanced, but the ambition was clear.

“A little bit depends on what position that is and what you’ve got and the dynamics you need at certain points. Sometimes you do need that if it’s the right player,” he said. “Again, it’s not purely on money. Obviously over time we need to be pushing to look to enhance the squad. So, yeah, 100% we need to do that.

“We’ve done really good business. So we’re delighted with that [but] we want more, we need more, we keep looking for how we can do that, so that never stops.”

Inside the dressing room, belief is growing. Harry Maguire, Noussair Mazraoui and Tielemans have all publicly talked up United’s title chances. Carrick did not dial that back.

“We’ve definitely got the potential to achieve something really special,” he said. “I’m not hiding from the fact, and we should aim to do that, but I can’t give you a definite answer on that – it’s certainly what we’re pushing to do because that’s the club we are.”

Rashford: wanted, but available?

While the finances shape United’s market strategy, the human drama centres on Rashford. The 28-year-old rejoined the squad at their County Kildare training camp on Sunday after a post-World Cup break, returning from an 18-month spell away on loan at Barcelona and Aston Villa.

Those loans followed a breakdown in his relationship with the club’s executive team and former head coach Ruben Amorim. That frost has thawed. Carrick and Rashford are working together, and the forward is said to be focused on the here and now.

Yet the underlying reality is awkward. Rashford would prefer to leave. The club, keen to cut a hefty wage bill, are open to the same outcome. The final two years of his contract are worth £35m – a significant number in a summer defined by financial lines in the sand.

Asked directly whether Rashford will still be at Old Trafford beyond the 1 September deadline, Carrick’s answer was firm, if carefully framed. “He’s our player and has trained really well,” he said. “It’s been good to have him around the group again.”

Did he actually want Rashford to stay?

“He’s a very good player, Marcus, and if you’re going to have a career over 10 or 15 years, there’s going to be times when things go in a direction and maybe a different direction. All right, that happens,” Carrick said. “There’s ups and downs, and that doesn’t judge you as a one-off kind of [state]. It’s what happens over time, and now we’re in a positive place as a group, and Marcus can offer us so much. He has done, and he can do again, so it’s quite exciting.”

The inevitable follow-up came: does Carrick see Rashford as not for sale?

“No, he’s our player and he gives something a little bit different in the group,” he replied.

For now, United are drawing the line at £100m, not at Rashford. The squad believes it can chase the title without a galáctico signing. The manager insists the project is about football, not just finance. The season will reveal whether that conviction holds under pressure – and whether Rashford is still there to help prove it.