Carrick rules out £100m signing for Manchester United as Rashford rejoins squad

Michael Carrick has stated that Manchester United will not make a £100m signing this summer due to their finances, with the manager also insisting that Marcus Rashford “is our player” despite the forward and club preferring him to depart.

In the current window United have invested a total of £85m on Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos but have never spent £100m on a single transfer.

This is in contrast to Manchester City, Tottenham, Liverpool, Arsenal, and Chelsea, the rest of the traditional top six, who have all spent £100m-plus on a player in recent years.

Carrick was asked how United can compete. “Money’s money. I get that,” said the manager. “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 guided United to third last season and was asked why the money from Champions League qualification cannot be invested in expensive elite players.

“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 said. “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.”

The 45-year-old was asked whether United can win the title without any players worth £100m or more in the squad.

Carrick said: “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. 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.”

Youri Tielemans, who arrived from Aston Villa, was one of United’s big summer signings. Photograph: Ash Donelon/Manchester United/Getty Images

Rashford joined the squad at their County Kildare training camp base on Sunday following a post-World Cup break. The 28-year-old has been on loan the past season and a half at Barcelona and Aston Villa respectively, due to a breakdown in his relationship with the club’s executive and the former United head coach Ruben Amorim.

Relations have eased and Rashford is focused on working under Carrick, though the player’s preference is to depart. The club want the same as they seek to reduce the wage bill. The forward’s final two years of his deal are worth £35m.

Carrick was asked if Rashford will stay beyond the 1 September deadline. “He’s our player and has trained really well,” said Carrick. “It’s been good to have him around the group again.”

The manager was asked if he wants Rashford to remain. “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,” he 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.”

Asked if Carrick views Rashford as not for sale, he said: “No, he’s our player and he gives something a little bit different in the group.”

Harry Maguire, Noussair Mazraoui and Tielemans have all indicated United can win the championship. “We’ve definitely got the potential to achieve something really special,” said Carrick. “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.”