Paul Scholes accuses Man United of ‘a lack of ambition’ and ‘buying players for the sake of it’ – rather than trying to win the Premier League – and claims Michael Carrick will feel ‘let down’ by his bosses

Paul Scholes has claimed that Michael Carrick has been let down by the Manchester United hierarchy with their ‘lack of ambition’ over the summer.

United have managed to win just one of their opening five games of the season, a 5-2 victory over promoted side Ipswich Town. Otherwise, they have lost to Hull City and Manchester City, and have drawn against Everton and Fulham. They have also been knocked out of the Carabao Cup at the first time of asking.

United had a modest summer in the transfer market. With Casemiro leaving for Inter Miami and Manuel Ugarte – now injured – deemed not good enough, Elliot Anderson and Mateus Fernandes emerged as Carrick’s top midfield targets. But Anderson joined Man City from Nottingham Forest in a £116million deal, while Fernandes chose Tottenham over United for £85m.

The club also considered Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes, but baulked at the fees required to sign the pair, who eventually joined Spurs (£92.5m) and Arsenal (£75m) respectively.

Instead, United signed Carlos Baleba for £70million, though the Cameroon international is yet to feature after arriving with an ankle injury. Andrey Santos joined for £48m but has started only once, while Youri Tielemans arrived for £35m and Karl Darlow on a free transfer.

Carrick also wanted a new left back, but the club failed to provide cover or a long-term successor for the 31-year-old Luke Shaw.

United legend Scholes has voiced his concern over the situation, with the club sitting in 12th after five games.

‘It feels quite sad to say this but Man United are a club now that are not trying to win the league with recruitment,’ he said on The Good, The Bat & The Football podcast.

‘Santos, Baleba, they’ve brought players in that physically they may be better. Santos played 11 games for Chelsea, they paid £50million for him.

‘But he’s not getting into the team, now Baleba might make a bit of difference. But again, if you’re recruiting at the start of the season for Manchester United, it should be for players that you think you can go and win the league with. I think they’re a million miles away.

‘I think they’re just trying to consolidate from what Michael did last year, which is hard to get your head around. Were United trying to buy an Elliot Anderson? Probably. Now that’s a signing where you think that might help you get a lot better. The players they’ve bought aren’t making them any better.’

Centre-forward appears to be a particular sticking point for Scholes and his podcast partner Nicky Butt. United appeared willing to let forward Joshua Zirkzee leave the club in the summer, although a move failed to materialise.

Carrick has remained reluctant to play the Dutchman in Benjamin Sesko’s absence and he has made just two substitute appearances in the Premier League so far, with Matheus Cunha getting the nod up top instead.

Butt said: ‘Playing Cunha as a nine – it kills him, he’s not a nine. He’s nowhere near the player he is when he’s playing off the side. We haven’t got a number nine other than (Benjamin) Sesko. Zirkzee doesn’t look anywhere near a Man United number nine. How can Man United have one centre forward that they can rely on?’

Carrick guided United to third in the Premier League last season, and both Scholes and Butt have claimed that Carrick has been let down by the club’s hierarchy.

Scholes said: ‘Michael must be really disappointed with what has happened in the summer. I reckon behind the scenes he thinks he’s been let down. What Michael did last year was very, very good.

‘The most important time for Michael was the start of this season. These games now are where you put a marker down, it gives you a foundation for the rest of the season.’

United have already seen two managers depart since Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS took over footballing operations in February 2024. Erik ten Hag was sacked three months after being handed a new deal in October 2024. His replacement, Ruben Amorim, was then sacked in January this year after 14 months in charge.

Butt said: ‘As a fan, the bit that gets me, I no longer think “it’s a no-brainer we’re going to win this game”. Who can you point the finger at, and for me, it has to be the people upstairs that are pointing the people into place to pick the managers, the players, the coaches.

‘I don’t understand it. (Omar) Berrada the CEO said they’re going to win the league by 2028. That’s never going to happen the way it’s going, never in a million years.

‘Without literally ripping them to shreds, it has to be said they’ve come in, they gave Ten Hag an extra few years on his contract, that didn’t work. They went and got two other managers after that and it’s still not working.

‘There’s got to be a real question being asked – is it being run right off the pitch, in recruitment and then that translates onto the pitch. So it’s a massive big problem I think.’

Scholes added: ‘I don’t think we can keep blaming managers all the time. You can’t just keep going through managers like we are doing. Recruitment will have an awful lot to answer for, especially after this summer.

‘Are they looking at these top targets, Morgan Rogers, Elliot Anderson? It feels like we’re buying players just for the sake of it. It feels like they’re settling for third, fourth, fifth-best signings – and that isn’t good enough. I’d rather just keep the money, and say “sure we can find someone in the academy who can do what these lads are doing”.’