No Hiding Place: Carrick's £150m Midfield Overhaul Ends a Decade of False Dawns at Old Trafford

When Ed Woodward sat down with MUTV in July 2015, Manchester United's then executive vice-chairman could barely contain himself. "When people see Bastian Schweinsteiger on the teamsheet, that's going to send some shivers down the spine," he boasted. It stands today as one of football's great misjudgments. Two years later, as Guardian Football recounts, the World Cup winner departed for Chicago Fire with a paltry 35 appearances and two goals on his United CV — and with the indignity of having been ordered to train alongside the club's youngsters by José Mourinho, Louis van Gaal's successor. In that single, cautionary tale lies the story of virtually every midfield recruitment United have made for a generation: grand ambition, marquee names, and quiet failure. The hope inside Old Trafford now is that the curse has finally been broken. This summer's business has been surgical where past windows were scattergun. Youri Tielemans arrived from Aston Villa for £35m, bringing composure and Premier League pedigree. Andrey Santos followed from Chelsea in a £48m deal, with a further £2m in add-ons, adding youthful dynamism to the squad. And manager Michael Carrick is closing in on a third statement signing: Brighton's Carlos Baleba, in a deal understood to be worth in the region of £70m. Taken together, that is a commitment approaching £150m on one department — a department that has been United's problem position since, pointedly, the moment Carrick himself hung up his boots. The subtext of the club's spending is unmistakable: the new manager can no longer point to the engine room and shrug. The tools have been provided. The excuses have not. For Carrick, a midfielder of rare intelligence in his playing days, there is a certain symmetry to the task. He knows better than anyone what a functioning United midfield should look like, because he was the last one to anchor it with any consistency. Now he must weave three expensive new pieces into a coherent whole, and quickly, with the Premier League's restoration after the World Cup 2026 summer offering no gentle introductions. Schweinsteiger's ghost looms over every big midfield signing at Old Trafford — a reminder that reputation guarantees nothing. Tielemans, Santos and, should he complete his move, Baleba arrive carrying the same shiver-inducing promise Woodward once described. Whether they avoid the same fate will define not just Carrick's reign, but finally answer the question United have been asking for a decade: can this club build a midfield again? Source: Guardian Football