📅 August 28, 2026

Carrick on Baleba, Amad and the Harry Amass Question: Every Answer From the Ipswich Press Conference

By Mav Jones · Manchester United fan writer

Michael Carrick took questions before Sunday’s home game against Ipswich Town, and the headline from it is simple: the £70m midfielder United signed last week still isn’t close. Carlos Baleba is two to three weeks away, Amad Diallo is out for longer than that, and the one player Carrick would not be pinned down on wasn’t injured at all.

The team news, in his own words

Carrick opened with the injuries and didn’t dress any of it up.

“Amad won’t be involved this week. He’ll be out for a little bit longer. Mase is back around the group, which is great, trained this week, so that’s a bit positive for us.”

That is the first good news United have had in a fortnight. Mason Mount has barely strung a run together since his hamstring problem before the season, and he’s back in training rather than back in the team, but it’s movement in the right direction.

Amad is the opposite. Ankle ligament damage picked up before the Hull game was put at up to six weeks, and nothing Carrick said on Friday moved that. He isn’t training, he isn’t playing on Sunday, and the club still won’t commit to a date.

Baleba: an ankle issue, and no debut yet

The question everyone wanted answered was when the new signing plays. Bruno Fernandes had told the PFA awards that the fans will love him. Carrick was more concerned with getting him fit.

“Yeah, he’s got a little ankle issue, so maybe a couple of weeks or so, maybe three weeks, we’ll see. But we knew that before, so it’s no major issue.”

He added: “It’ll be great to have him back when we can.”

“We knew that before” is doing a lot of work there, and it’s true. The ankle problem came out of Brighton’s pre-season and it was public knowledge while the fee was still being argued over. United paid £65m up front plus £5m in add-ons for a player they knew would not be available in August.

Two to three weeks from Friday rules him out of Everton away on 5 September. It puts him in the frame for Manchester City at Old Trafford on 12 September, or Fulham away the week after. Asked directly whether he and Amad could feature before the international break, Carrick wouldn’t be drawn.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s obviously new, the break to deal with, but we’ll wait and see, we’re hopeful, but don’t want to put any deadlines on it just yet.”

What he actually likes about the signing

On Baleba the footballer rather than Baleba the injury, Carrick was more expansive, and the interesting part was the word he kept coming back to.

“We’re delighted to have Carlos. I think huge potential, massive potential. I think this is a really exciting signing for us.”

Asked what Baleba gives him that the midfielders already at the club don’t, he went to balance rather than to any one attribute.

“The quality that he has, the attributes that he has, that offsets a little bit of the balance of the group that we’ve got. Different strengths, different combinations.”

That is a manager describing a squad piece, not a finished article, and he said so plainly.

“So for us to have that, absolutely delighted to have him. There’s so much more to come from him as well, which with the player that he already is, with that little bit more to come, is exciting for us.”

He said “delighted” twice in the same answer and “potential” twice in one sentence. For a manager who does not oversell players, that is about as warm as it gets.

It’s a fair reading of a 22-year-old whose numbers are built on winning the ball rather than using it. United have bought the profile they were missing, and Carrick isn’t pretending they’ve bought the finished version of it.

The Harry Amass answer is the one to reread

Carrick was at Leigh on Monday watching the academy side, and the question that followed was about Harry Amass, who played in that game. The 19-year-old left-back has been linked with a permanent exit, with United reportedly open to around £7m while they chase Lewis Hall. Carrick’s answer never once said he was staying.

“It comes to this stage and there’s always a little bit where, and this is not just Harry, by the way, this is just the stage change of the window and putting squads together and dynamics of changes and younger players and loans and not loans and all sorts of different scenarios.”

Note that he volunteered “this is not just Harry, by the way” without being asked to. He knew how the answer would read, and he headed it off before anyone could write it up. Then came the praise, which sounded more like a reference than a team-sheet hint.

“I’ve been really pleased with Harry. I think he had a really good season that then didn’t finish so good with the injury, but it’s been great to have him around pre-season. He’s done really well.”

A manager planning to use a player does not usually reach for the past tense that often. With Luke Shaw still the only senior left-back at the club and the window shutting in days, that’s worth watching. We’ve gone through the whole left-back situation here, including why Lewis Hall and Balde both fell over and what Romano expects United to do instead.

JJ Gabriel, aged 15

The same academy game brought up JJ Gabriel, the forward who was named Premier League Under-18 Player of the Year at 15 after scoring 21 goals in 23 games. Carrick was warm and completely non-committal about a first-team role.

“JJ’s one of the boys. He’s obviously got a really big talent. He’s trained with us quite a bit, he’s getting experience all the time, he’s physically adapting to each step that he makes, and just continue his development really.”

We’ve gone through everything Gabriel has already done in a separate piece, including the first-team record he set at Atlético Madrid in August.

“Physically adapting to each step” is the tell. He’s 15. Nobody at the club is in a hurry, and Carrick made a point of praising the whole team rather than the one name: “I thought the boys played ever so well actually. The quality, the attitude, everything about the game was really good.”

The World Cup group are available

Lisandro Martínez, Marcus Rashford and Kobbie Mainoo all started on the bench at Hull after returning late from the World Cup. Carrick confirmed that’s no longer a fitness question.

“We’ve got a squad to choose from. We’ve got a good squad and we could pick a variety kind of combinations within the team. So we’ll pick a team for the weekend. But yeah, certainly the boys are massively in contention.”

So if any of them don’t start on Sunday, it’s a selection call, not a conditioning one.

Sunday

This is United’s first home game of the Premier League season, and it follows a 2-0 defeat at Hull that nobody has forgotten. Ipswich arrive having beaten Sunderland 2-1 on the same afternoon, which Carrick noted without being prompted.

“We want a good performance and a win, obviously. First home game of the season, it’s the one we look forward to and the supporters coming. Massively looking forward to the game.”

On the opposition, and on the week before it: “Another tough game again. They obviously had a big result last week as well, so it’ll be another challenge for us.”

Kick-off is 4:30pm in the UK, 11:30am Eastern. United will be without their new midfielder, their best wide player, and possibly their left-back of the future. The projected line-ups are here.

Source: Quotes transcribed from Michael Carrick’s pre-match press conference ahead of Manchester United v Ipswich Town, 28 August 2026. Cross-checked against ESPN‘s report of the same press conference. Harry Amass transfer situation via Wikipedia and FootballTransfers. JJ Gabriel award and record via Sports Illustrated. Fixture dates and results via the Premier League. Accurate as of 28 August 2026.