Manchester United's Midfield Dilemma: Transfer Targets for 2026-27

Manchester United fans have been here before.

They know the giddy rush of a big-name signing, the unveiling, the hype – and the hollow feeling when it doesn’t fix anything. Years of waste in the market have hardened them. Prudence now has value at Old Trafford. But as the new season looms, that caution is colliding with a very real fear: Michael Carrick might not have the midfield to survive a four-front campaign in 2026-27.

United are back in the Champions League after a surprise third-place finish, a return that was supposed to trigger a statement summer. A reset window. A show of strength.

So far? Nothing completed.

Ederson’s £35 million move from Atalanta hangs in limbo while he finishes World Cup duty with Brazil. The deal is viewed as a formality, yet the longer it drags, the more restless the fanbase becomes. They’ve already watched Elliot Anderson slip to Manchester City, then seen Bruno Fernandes and Sandro Tonali head to Spurs. Each announcement elsewhere lands like another reminder of United’s inertia.

Carrick’s dilemma is brutally simple. Midfielders are going for mad money, and the pool of genuine top-level ball-winners and playmakers is shrinking by the week. His need became acute the moment Manuel Ugarte’s World Cup ended with a serious injury. One of his key pillars, gone before a ball is kicked in the new club season.

United, though, are not out of options. The market is thin, not empty.

Bouaddi: The generational temptation

Ayyoub Bouaddi was already on the radar after his breakthrough with Lille. Then came the World Cup opener. At 18, lining up for Morocco against Brazil, he played with the kind of calm that belongs to veterans, not teenagers. One game, and the global audience snapped to attention.

United’s scouts did not need a second invitation. A ball-playing, ball-winning midfielder who can dictate and destroy? He fits the brief almost perfectly. The problem is obvious: so does he for every major club in Europe.

And there’s another question. After committing serious money to Ederson, would United really go all-in again on another young midfielder, however special he looks? Bouaddi feels like a once-in-a-generation talent, but he would not come cheap, and this is a club trying to step away from impulse buys dressed up as masterplans.

Berge: The low-cost curveball

At the other end of the spectrum sits Sander Berge, the left-field, low-fee option that just won’t go away. For years, he seemed destined to join one of England’s elite. It never quite materialised. Instead, he built his reputation at Sheffield United, spent a year at Burnley, then moved to Fulham in 2024.

Now, on the World Cup stage, Berge is reminding everyone why he was once so highly rated. His form has nudged his name back into the conversation at Old Trafford, particularly as the clock ticks and United’s situation starts to look a little desperate.

This is not a glamour signing. But it is a logical one. At 28, Berge would bring a different profile to United’s midfield: height, presence, a calmer tempo, and experience of the league. Crucially, he would do so for a fee that wouldn’t blow up the rest of the window. It’s not the kind of move that sells shirts. It might be the kind that stabilises a squad.

Baleba: The £100m stand-off

Carlos Baleba is the player United’s hierarchy, and in particular director of football Jason Wilcox, clearly believe could become one of the Premier League’s best midfielders. They pushed hard last summer. Brighton pushed back harder, slapping a £100m price tag on him and refusing to budge.

Nothing has changed. That’s the strange part.

Baleba’s 2025-26 campaign was solid rather than spectacular. He showed flashes of the dynamism that has clubs intrigued, but he didn’t dominate the league. Still, Brighton are reportedly holding firm on that same nine-figure valuation.

There is no doubt Baleba would add energy, ball-carrying and bite to Carrick’s midfield. Yet there is also no way United can realistically justify paying £100m for a player who still has so much to prove. This is exactly the kind of deal the club is trying to avoid: huge outlay, limited evidence, massive risk.

Scott: The rising Premier League metronome

Alex Scott, by contrast, already looks like a Premier League-grown solution. The 22-year-old was central to Bournemouth’s extraordinary rise last season, driving them to a sixth-placed finish and a first-ever European qualification. From a deep-lying role, he chipped in with four goals and two assists, but those numbers only tell a fraction of the story.

His control, his range of passing, his maturity under pressure – all of it fuelled debate that he should have been on the plane with England to the World Cup in North America. He wasn’t, yet his stock still soared. Links with Liverpool have been constant since Andoni Iraola swapped the Vitality Stadium for Anfield.

United are firmly in the mix. Bournemouth, though, are in no mood to be bullied. They will sell, but only at what they call the “right price”, believed to be at least £70m. That leaves United with a stark call: is Scott, talented and improving but still learning, worth that level of investment? His ceiling looks high. The fee would say “centrepiece”, not “project”.

Santos: The most realistic arrival

Then there is Andrey Santos, the name that surfaced over the weekend and split United’s online following almost instantly. Once tipped as a future Selecao mainstay after breaking into Vasco da Gama’s first team at 16 in 2021, his trajectory has stuttered rather than soared.

He did not make Carlo Ancelotti’s World Cup squad for Brazil, a damning omission given the team’s clear lack of dynamism in midfield. Since joining Chelsea in 2023, he only really began to see meaningful minutes last season under Liam Rosenior. For a fanbase craving instant impact, it is hard to get excited about a player still in the “promise” phase.

Yet beneath the doubts, there is a footballer of real substance. Former Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca believed Santos could thrive as a deep-lying midfielder, using his intelligence and passing to control games from the base. At 22, he still has time to grow into that role.

Most importantly for United, he is obtainable. Chelsea are very open to selling. No prolonged saga, no impossible fee, no auction. In a market warped by inflated valuations and reluctant sellers, that matters.

Right now, that practicality makes Santos the likeliest midfielder to walk through the doors at Old Trafford in the coming weeks.

The question is whether “most likely” is enough for a club that insists it is ready to compete at the very top again.