The summer transfer window has shut and Manchester United have named their Premier League squad but more changes could still happen at Old Trafford
After four games of the new Premier League season, Manchester United find themselves in the bottom half of the table with four points. Some of their summer signings are still finding their feet while one, Carlos Baleba, is still waiting to make his debut for the club after injury.
The transfer window has shut and all 20 top-flight clubs have submitted their official squads for the campaign. The winter transfer window is still a few months away but Michael Carrick can still make some more tweaks before then.
Youri Tielemans has been a regular starter since joining from Aston Villa while Andrey Santos has featured less prominently after completing a £48m move from Chelsea. Even with the addition of those two arrivals – as well as Baleba and new goalkeeper Karl Darlow – United have used just 23 of the 25 available slots in their Premier League squad list.
This means further new arrivals could join the party. United and their Premier League rivals are restricted to free agents until the window opens but they don’t even need a new arrival to be homegrown, having already used their eight homegrown slots on Darlow, Amad, Tom Heaton, Harry Maguire, Dermot Mee, Mason Mount, Marcus Rashford and Luke Shaw.
Additionally, those born after January 1, 2005, are not counted towards the squad allowance. This explains why younger first-teamers such as Kobbie Mainoo and Leny Yoro are not included in the full squad list below.
United would still need to jump through some hoops if they want to add a free agent. The player in question would need to have already been unattached to a club when the transfer window shut, while the club would need written consent from the Premier League to add them to their pool of available players as per rule U7
Premier League rule U8 states that, in addition to other relevant documents, all clubs must submit any contract they propose to enter when attempting to sign a new player. Although United could bring in free transfers, section V4 states that the Premier League Board also has absolute discretion to refuse an application to register a player.
There is precedent for such a move. Other Premier League clubs have picked up unattached players outside the window in recent seasons, with Wolves signing Diego Costa in September 2022 and West Ham re-signing Lukasz Fabianski in September of last year.
A number of international stars remain without a club at the time of writing. These include Jadon Sancho and Tyrell Malacia – who left Old Trafford when their respective contracts expired at the end of June – and former Paris Saint-Germain striker Mauro Icardi.
In early September, Carrick told Sky Sports he was satisfied that his squad has improved over the summer window. However, he recognised the challenges faced by the club in the market.
“Transfer windows are never straightforward and this window in particular has been challenging for different reasons,” he said at a charity golf day. “There’s a lot of money being spent in and around the league itself, and I think we’ve made the most of the situation that we’ve found ourselves in.
“That’s the world we live in. Teams at certain points are going to spend a lot of money. Sometimes it’s going to be more than what we spend, sometimes maybe not. We’ve got to make the most of what we can and understand where we’re at. I think we’re a very good team, we want to keep getting better.”
Manchester United’s 23-man Premier League squad:
- Bruno Fernandes
- Diogo Dalot
- Karl Darlow*
- Matthijs De Ligt
- Amad*
- Patrick Dorgu
- Tom Heaton*
- Senne Lammens
- Harry Maguire*
- Lisandro Martinez
- Noussair Mazraoui
- Bryan Mbeumo
- Dermot Mee*
- Mason Mount*
- Andrey Santos
- Carlos Baleba
- Marcus Rashford*
- Matheus Cunha,
- Benjamin Sesko
- Luke Shaw*
- Youri Tielemans
- Manuel Ugarte
- Joshua Zirkzee
*indicates homegrown players
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