Manchester United's Left-Back Dilemma: Lessons Not Learned?

Manchester United have been here before. Different summer, same blind spot.

Two years on from allowing Alvaro Carreras to leave for Benfica for around £5.2 million – only to watch him rocket to a £42m transfer to Real Madrid last summer – the club stand on the brink of another cut‑price gamble at left-back.

This time the name is Harry Amass.

The 19-year-old, who broke into the first team under Ruben Amorim and added Championship minutes on loan last season, is reportedly being touted for sale at around £6m. A teenager with seven senior United appearances, in a position where the squad is alarmingly thin, is being treated like a disposable asset.

Old Trafford is crying out for full-backs. Luke Shaw, now 31, is entering the final year of his contract. Behind him, the depth chart is made up of kids and makeshifts. Yet the club are said to be ready to “auction off” one of their brightest academy defenders for a fee that barely registers in today’s market.

Supporters have not taken it quietly. The backlash has been sharp: why sell a homegrown left-back for a few million when you’ll likely spend five times that trying to replace him?

United have already lived the Carreras cautionary tale. They may be about to repeat it.

Carrick’s Balancing Act: Youth, Loans and a Pre-Season Trial

Michael Carrick’s first full season in charge begins with a juggling act.

United are open to loaning out almost their entire Under-21s squad for 2026/27, seeking real minutes rather than academy comfort. Shea Lacey, Ethan Williams and others have already tasted pre-season action against Rosenborg and Wrexham. Most are being lined up for temporary exits.

Four, though, are ring-fenced. Lacey, Jack Fletcher, Tyler Fletcher and JJ Gabriel are viewed as untouchable, earmarked to stay at Carrington and grow under Carrick’s eye.

For others, this summer is an audition.

No one has seized that stage more emphatically than Jaydan Kamason. The 19-year-old full-back, the first player to sign a scholarship after emerging from United’s Emerging Talent Programme, has had to fight back from two long-term injuries last season. Now he’s making up for lost time.

Used in the early pre-season games against Wrexham and Rosenborg, Kamason truly came alive in Norway. Introduced at half-time for Harry Maguire, he delivered two outstanding assists and injected pace and ambition down the flank. It was the sort of performance that forces a manager to pause before signing off on a loan.

Kamason knows the stakes. He has spoken openly about chasing a place in Carrick’s plans, while accepting that a loan could be part of the journey. The ambition is clear: the “top level” he talks about is Old Trafford, not somewhere else.

With the club simultaneously considering cashing in on Amass and sending a raft of youngsters out on loan, Carrick’s judgment on who stays and who goes will shape United’s depth chart for years, not months.

Injuries, Selection Headaches and a Different-Looking XI

United’s Premier League campaign opens away to newly-promoted Hull on August 22, and Carrick may have to improvise.

At centre-back, the plan is for the partnership of Harry Maguire and Will Fish Heaven to continue. Matthijs de Ligt is not expected back until the autumn, while Lisandro Martinez only recently began to win his race against time after the injury that forced him off in the World Cup final defeat to Spain.

Initial fears around Martinez’s problem have eased. Tests confirmed a muscle strain rather than something more serious, and the Argentina defender – who earned a place in the World Cup team of the tournament – is now expected to be fit for the trip to the MKM Stadium. Even so, Carrick will be wary of rushing him.

In midfield, Kobbie Mainoo is nursing a back issue, removing one of United’s most progressive options between the lines. That opens the door for Mason Mount to start, with new signing Youri Tielemans likely to slot alongside him as a more traditional organiser.

Up front, Benjamin Sesko is still working his way back from a shin injury. The 23-year-old Slovenia striker has missed the first two pre-season friendlies against Wrexham and Rosenborg, but Carrington sources insist his recovery is on schedule. He has already returned to outdoor training and could feature against Atletico Madrid in Stockholm on August 1, with a strong chance of starting against Paris Saint-Germain in Gothenburg a week later.

Until Sesko is fully ready, Carrick may turn to Bryan Mbeumo through the middle, with Amad Diallo off the right and Matheus Cunha from the left. It is not the front line many would have predicted when last season ended, but injuries and delayed returns have a way of rewriting plans.

Striker Market: Zirkzee Out, Vlahovic In?

The centre-forward picture is complicated by uncertainty around Joshua Zirkzee.

Juventus are pushing to take the United striker on loan this summer, with a £30m option to buy. At the same time, reports in Italy now suggest Juve are “unlikely” to sign Zirkzee because they have reached an agreement with PSG to bring in Randal Kolo Muani on loan with a conditional obligation to buy. Should that deal go permanent, Kolo Muani will sign a five-year contract in Turin.

United, for their part, have been weighing up their own options. The i Paper reports that the club have considered a move for Dusan Vlahovic, now a free agent after leaving Juventus. The thinking is clear: if Zirkzee heads to Italy, United want an experienced striker to complement Sesko rather than throw all the responsibility on a 23-year-old returning from injury.

Nothing is done yet, but the shape of Carrick’s attack could look very different by the time the window closes.

Falcao’s Second Act

Far from Manchester, one of United’s most curious former forwards is preparing for an unexpected twist.

Radamel Falcao’s time in England was a costly disappointment. Between 2014 and 2016, he arrived on loan at both Manchester United and Chelsea with a superstar reputation and left having barely laid a glove on the Premier League.

His legacy, though, remains intact back home. Falcao is Colombia’s all-time leading scorer, with 36 goals in 104 caps, and a legend for his work at Porto, Atletico Madrid and Monaco.

Now 40 and a free agent after leaving Millonarios in Bogota, he has been targeted by the Colombian FA to become assistant coach to Nestor Lorenzo, following the departure of Luis Amaranto Perea to Independiente Medellin. A source close to Lorenzo told El Tiempo that the head coach is “pleased” at the prospect, stressing that it was the federation who pushed Falcao’s name.

If he chooses to retire and accept, Falcao’s reputation could be rebuilt not with goals, but with guidance on the touchline.

Chelsea’s New Spine and a Familiar Face

While United wrestle with their squad, Chelsea have turned to experience – and one of Old Trafford’s own.

Danny Welbeck, now 35, has agreed a two-year deal to join the London club from Brighton. The move has drawn praise from former United defender Gary Neville, who believes Chelsea have lacked adult supervision for years.

Neville highlighted the signings of Welbeck and Jordan Henderson as a deliberate attempt to install a spine of “good, senior professionals” who can act as guardians in a young dressing room. In his view, their impact will be as significant off the pitch as on it: 25–35 games a season, plus a daily example of what it takes to win Premier League titles and maintain standards.

Chelsea’s kids, Neville argued, have lacked real leadership. Now they have it.

Martinez, Security and the World Cup Fallout

Martinez’s World Cup story has had an off-field epilogue.

After Argentina’s semi-final victory over England – a 2-1 win that still stings in this country – emotions ran high. Martinez was photographed holding a banner reading “The Falklands are Argentina’s” during the celebrations, with Liverpool’s Alexis Mac Allister nearby.

In the days that followed, private security firms were stationed at the north-west homes of both players. The detail lasted two days. No attempts were made to vandalise either property, and Manchester United were not involved in arranging protection for Martinez, but the episode underlined the intensity that now surrounds him on and off the pitch.

That intensity will only grow if he returns to anchor United’s defence from the opening day.

Pre-Season Roadmap: Atletico First Real Test

United’s summer schedule is designed to harden Carrick’s squad quickly.

After early run-outs against Wrexham and Rosenborg, the first serious examination arrives on August 1 against Atletico Madrid in Solna. Kick-off at the Strawberry Arena is 2pm UK time, with the game broadcast live on MUTV and its digital platforms for subscribers.

From there, the level stays high:

• PSG in Gothenburg on August 8, a meeting with Europe’s back-to-back continental champions.
• Leeds on August 12.
• Milan on August 15.

Sesko’s return, Martinez’s sharpness, Kamason’s momentum, Amass’s future – all will be tested in those four fixtures.

Carrick’s brief is clear. United ended last season with Champions League football after his appointment in January. The next step is trophies, after a two-year drought at Old Trafford.

Whether they reach that level may depend on decisions being made right now: who to sell, who to loan, who to trust, and whether they have finally learned how not to give away a £40m left-back for the price of a squad filler.