📅 September 4, 2026

“I Didn’t Say Restrictions.” Carrick on the Window, Sesko, Zirkzee and Who Plays Left-Back

By Mav Jones · Manchester United fan writer

The first answer Michael Carrick gave on Friday was about the window, and it ran for over a minute without the words left-back. Later a reporter named the outside concerns, left-back and centre-forward, and asked whether the squad has the depth to get through a season. That answer didn’t mention either position. Across four questions on the summer, this is the clearest account yet of how the club sees a window that bought three midfielders and no defenders: delighted with who came, “the situation is what it is” on money, and one sharp correction when a reporter pushed on that.

“I didn’t say restrictions”

The opening answer set the tone. “We wanted to come out stronger from the group that we had last season and we’ve definitely added to that. I think we’ve done a lot of good work in that respect and the situation is what it is in terms of finances and what we can work with and what we’re trying to get the most of.”

He called the signings “really good business” and said he was “absolutely delighted” with them, then conceded the gap without naming it: “You can always look at it and there’s other things you can do or could have done, possibly could have done. Some things come available, some don’t.”

The follow-up was the sharpest exchange of the afternoon. Spurs, City and Chelsea all spent heavily, so why is the Manchester United manager talking about finances and restrictions? “I didn’t say restrictions, I’m just saying that’s the situation that we have. I’m not talking about the amount. I think whatever the amount is, you want to make the most of it, and whatever you spend, you want to make the most of it. I think for what we’ve spent, we’ve certainly made the most of it, without a shadow of a doubt, if not even more than that because of the players that we’ve brought in.”

That’s a careful distinction and it’s the right one. United weren’t restricted. They had roughly £92m of annual headroom under the league’s squad cost rules, and the UEFA fine for adding a left-back would have been about £2m. Carrick is saying the budget was the budget and he’s happy with how it was spent. He isn’t saying the rules stopped anything, because they didn’t.

The depth question, the one that named left-back and centre-forward, got the answer of a coach who knows the squad isn’t complete. “What squad’s ever the perfect squad? You’ve always got to find ways of adapting.” And later: “It’s not just an instant fix and you finish top of the league and you stay there.”

Sesko: “loads more to come”

Benjamin Sesko scored the winner at Hill Dickinson in February and hasn’t started a game since the shin injury he picked up against Liverpool in May. He missed all of pre-season and has two substitute appearances this season. Carrick isn’t rushing him.

“He’s improving his fitness all the time. He had some time off, which was important that we give him the time to make sure it was right moving forward and no setbacks.” Then: “He made big strides last season and he’s still young, he’s still kind of adapting to a point and learning and developing here. So there’s loads more to come from Ben. Just being patient with him really and looking after him as well and letting him grow into the season.”

“Letting him grow into the season” isn’t how a manager talks about a player he’s about to start. We picked Sesko to start against Everton’s block. On Friday’s evidence, Cunha keeps the shirt and Sesko gets the last half hour again.

Three midfielders, two places

Carlos Baleba, Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans cost about £150m between them, and a reporter put the obvious question. Does the £70m man have to play, does Tielemans have to partner Bruno, and where does that leave Kobbie Mainoo after Ipswich?

“Sounds like you’re in our coach’s office,” Carrick said, then answered it. “We’re not just putting a squad together for one game on Sunday. We need a squad that’s going to take us through the whole season.” The options, he said, are for changing a game from the bench, for rotating game to game, and for the weeks when United play every three or four days.

The honest part came next. “It’s certainly not just week by week, it’s the longer term and what we’re going to need to get us through the season with unfortunate injuries or suspensions or whatever may come.”

For Sunday the question is theoretical. Baleba’s ankle has him targeting the Brighton cup tie on 16 September, so the midfield that scored five against Ipswich, Mainoo and Tielemans behind Bruno, picks itself. The selection problem Carrick was asked about arrives with the derby a week later.

Zirkzee stays, and Everton were the ones who asked

Everton’s deadline day ended with a loan bid for Joshua Zirkzee after their move for Folarin Balogun collapsed. United turned it down. Zirkzee hasn’t played a minute this season, and Carrick was asked whether he’s happy and whether he’ll be involved on Sunday.

“Yeah, for sure. Josh is important.” Then: “Josh is happy here and I have a really good relationship with Josh. He wants to play more than he has done.” Carrick called that healthy competition for places and pointed to the run of games with short gaps between them.

He finished with a line that reads like a promise of minutes. “Josh can do some really top things. I’ve seen it myself and I know he can do that.” Four games in ten days from Sunday, Sabah on Thursday among them, is where that gets tested.

The left-back answer, eventually

The left-back question came back in a different form. Patrick Dorgu was signed as a left-sided defender, so why has Carrick used him almost only as a left winger?

“He can certainly play there. He has done, without a doubt. I’m not sitting here saying he can’t do that, it’s just the way we’ve been since I’ve been here.” Carrick pointed out that Dorgu played “three or four times for us last season” because of injury, so “he’s almost like a new signing in some ways because he’s added so much to the group.”

Then the line that matters with Luke Shaw the only senior left-back at the club. “He can play left-back. He’s that type where he can do a number of things. I’m certainly not saying he can’t do that at all. It’s something he can. We just haven’t had to explore that. At some point we might have to, at some point he might do that. He can do that, absolutely no problem. There’s times in training when he does it.”

That is the club’s answer to the left-back question it didn’t answer in the window. Not a free agent, not January. Dorgu, when Shaw needs a rest or worse, and he’s already doing it in training.

Everton: “as tough as they come”

Carrick played under David Moyes for a season and spent twelve seasons going to Goodison as a United player. He made no attempt to talk Sunday down. “However long I’ve been going to Everton, and I know it was Goodison before, every single game has been as tough as they come.” And: “Whatever position they’re in, wherever they are in the league, historically, whenever I’ve gone there, it’s been tough. Whatever state they’re in, David’s a terrific manager, they’ve got a good squad, they’ve got some talent in that group and some very good attacking players as well.”

Everton are unbeaten with four points from two games, United have three. Everton sold Ndiaye and Beto on deadline day and go in with Thierno Barry as their one senior striker. United’s last visit ended 1-0, Sesko on 71 minutes. Kick-off is 2pm in the UK, 9 AM Eastern, and the US channel is in the watch guide.

The team news part of the press conference is embargoed until Saturday night. Mount, Baleba and Amad are the names to listen for.

Sources: Quotes transcribed from the video of Michael Carrick’s pre-match press conference at Carrington, 4 September 2026, and cross-checked against The Peoples Person’s full transcript, United in Focus’s report and Yahoo Sports’ report of the same session. Where the transcripts differ on a word, the video was used. Everton’s Zirkzee bid via Goal and Brit Brief (1 Sep 2026). Sesko’s injury timeline via United in Focus. Accurate as of 4 September 2026.