Manchester United’s engine room has been a source of frustration for years. Too ponderous, too easily overrun, too often a liability rather than a platform: it has surrendered leads, invited pressure, and left a succession of managers exposed. This summer, the Red Devils seem determined to address it at the root. With the former United captain Michael Carrick now in permanent charge and the club returning to European football’s elite stage, the question of which midfielders Manchester United could sign has never felt more pressing or more defining.
The Brazilian stalwart Casemiro’s departure draws a line under one chapter, and regardless of what happens with the Uruguayan schemer Manuel Ugarte, the club cannot afford to step into 2026/27 carrying the same vulnerabilities at the base of the pitch. Carrick has outlined his demands clearly: a midfield that imposes itself physically, expresses itself technically, and dictates terms rather than concedes them. The scouting department have been thorough, and the names on the shortlist reflect a club thinking seriously about the future.
The summer transfer window opens on June 15 and the clock is already ticking. Here are five midfielders Manchester United could sign this summer to overhaul the centre of the pitch and build the foundations of a genuine top-four contender.
Éderson (Atalanta)
Of all the midfielders Manchester United could sign this summer, Éderson may prove the most straightforward to get over the line; and at the reported price, he would represent among the better pieces of business the club has conducted in years.
The 26-year-old, born in Campo Grande, Brazil, has been one of the most dependable central midfielders in Serie A across the past three seasons. Physically imposing, technically composed and capable of operating effectively both as a defensive screen and a ball-carrier, he offers precisely the profile that United have been missing since Casemiro was at his peak. This season he made 30 Serie A appearances, logging over 2,200 minutes and contributing two goals and one assist for a side that demands relentless intensity from its central players.
Éderson is prioritising a move to Old Trafford over all other clubs, with advanced talks already under way between the two sides over a fee. He has reportedly agreed personal terms on a five-year contract. The transfer fee is expected to be in the region of £35 million up front, with a further £3 million in add-ons. That represents serious value for a player of his calibre, and a sound foundation for the wider rebuild.
Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest)
Elliot Anderson is a player at the City Ground who has spent the past two seasons quietly making the case that he is among the best central midfielders in the country. He has not done it at a glamour club, has not done it with the backing of a nine-figure squad or a manager celebrated across Europe. He has done it at Nottingham Forest, on merit, game after game, until the argument became impossible to ignore.
Carrick, it is reported, wants the 23-year-old badly. That much is not in dispute. What is in dispute is whether United have the financial conviction and the competitive edge to win a race that Manchester City believe is already theirs to lose.
Forest are not selling cheaply; their valuation of around £120 million is designed to make even the wealthiest boards reconsider. And yet the numbers Anderson produced this season make that figure harder to dismiss than it might first appear. He finished the campaign with four goals and four assists across 3,334 minutes of Premier League football, maintaining an average rating of 7.51; numbers that place him comfortably among the division’s elite central midfielders and tell only part of the story. The pressing, the recovery runs, the relentless physicality married to genuine technical quality: these are the things that do not always appear in a statistics column but that Carrick’s coaching staff will have noted meticulously.
The uncertainty surrounding life at the Etihad in the post-Guardiola era has complicated City’s pursuit. United sense an opening. Whether they have the boldness to walk through it is another matter entirely — but surrendering this chase without a fight would be a telling statement about the true ambition of this rebuild.
Aurélien Tchouaméni (Real Madrid)
Should Anderson prove unattainable, Tchouaméni represents the next best option; and in some respects, a more battle-tested commodity at the highest level. The Rouen-born France international is 26, at the peak of his powers, and has spent four years at the Bernabéu developing into one of the most authoritative defensive midfielders in European football.
He is not a flashy player. He wins the ball, protects the back four and keeps things simple under pressure; qualities that United have conspicuously lacked. This season he appeared in 49 games for Real Madrid across all competitions, playing 3,940 minutes and contributing two goals and one assist. The kind of endurance and reliability that Carrick will covet.
United hold strong admiration for Tchouaméni, though complications around a deal remain. At an estimated £70 million, he is seen as more attainable than Anderson and a direct replacement for Casemiro, with a goal threat from deep included. Madrid are understood to be open to a sale should the player signal his desire to move on. He will rarely be this available again.
Mateus Fernandes (West Ham)
West Ham’s relegation, painful as it was for those in east London, has handed United an opportunity they would be unwise to squander. Fernandes is 21 years old, spent the bulk of this season as one of the Premier League’s most consistent midfielders, and is now theoretically available at a price point that reflects his club’s financial circumstances rather than his actual market value.
The Olhão-born former Sporting CP prospect executes the unglamorous work with uncommon quality. This season he registered three goals and three assists, completed 88.2 per cent of his passes, won 72 tackles, recorded 27 interceptions and made 131 ball recoveries across more than 2,000 minutes of football. Defensive output of that order from a player still only 21 is genuinely unusual.
With West Ham’s relegation forcing significant cost-cutting, Fernandes may be available at a considerable discount. Old Trafford hierarchy have been watching him closely. At the right price, he could prove the most intelligent acquisition in what is otherwise likely to be an expensive window.
Carlos Baleba (Brighton)
Brighton have built a well-deserved reputation for identifying elite midfield talent before the larger clubs arrive. Baleba is their latest example. The 22-year-old Cameroonian, who made the move to the south coast from Lille in the summer of 2023, has grown into one of the most combative defensive midfielders in the division: physical, tireless and disciplined in a manner that belies his age.
This season he made 31 Premier League appearances, accumulating 1,662 minutes in a side that demands high defensive output from its central players. He is not yet the finished article, but the foundations are clearly in place.
Baleba is among the midfielders under active consideration at Old Trafford, and the logic of the move is sound: he addresses a specific need, carries Premier League experience, and his best years remain ahead of him. His five-year contract, signed upon his arrival in 2023, means Brighton hold the leverage in any negotiation; but at the right fee, this is a deal worth pursuing seriously.
The Verdict
The midfielders Manchester United could sign this summer are not hypothetical names pulled from a wishlist: they are identified targets that the club’s scouting department have spent months assessing. The shape of this rebuild is taking form.
Éderson appears close to completion. One further established signing, Tchouaméni, if not Anderson, combined with a younger developmental option in Fernandes or Baleba, would constitute a genuine and meaningful upgrade on what Carrick inherited. The targets are credible. The need is beyond question.
But lists and intentions mean nothing without execution. Old Trafford has seen too many summers where the names were right and the nerve failed. Whether the club acts with the necessary speed and conviction this time will say everything about where Manchester United genuinely believe they are heading, and whether the midfielders Manchester United could sign this window become the foundation of something real, or simply another chapter in a long story of what might have been.
