Man Utd are trying to do what Sir Alex Ferguson did with Michael Carrick in midfield

A WEEK after Andrey Santos claimed he couldn’t speak, he spoke enthusiastically about his start to life at Manchester United. Nobody at United had pinned down a specific role for Santos. It was to his credit that he billed himself as “like a number six”. Santos has offered to fill the void left by Casemiro Credit: EPA Tielemans came on against PSG Credit: Getty United director of football Jason Wilcox promised that Santos has “the ability to impact the game at both ends of the pitch”. Michael Carrick has spoken vaguely about the most expensive signing of his brief tenure. Sign up for the Man United newsletter Thank you! The caginess from United is predictable amid their wish to sign a third midfielder. But they are making no promises and Santos offers them a get-out. Mason Mount’s foot injury that forced him off in the 1-1 draw with Paris Saint-Germain is not serious. A well-placed source said Mount is fine and he looked it as he smiled and walked freely towards the team coach in Gothenburg. Youri Tielemans showed some class on his cameo and Kobbie Mainoo is now back. So that is four options in midfield. Yet United are lacking a statement signing there. Manchester City bought Elliot Anderson, Tottenham blew competitors out of the water for Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes has bolstered Arsenal. Chelsea already have Moises Caicedo. United clearly lack an enforcer and Santos is not a physically imposing presence. Santos, 22, has been tidy in possession and it is a pity he was not pitted against PSG’s Portuguese pair Vitinha and Joao Neves from the start in Sweden. Most read in Sport Mainoo’s breakthrough at United was on his maiden pre-season three years ago when he held his own against Arsenal’s Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard in New Jersey. Mainoo’s good fortune was that his tour debut fell in a year between the World Cup and the European Championship. Anderson, Rice and Caicedo were all wanted by United and all slipped the net. United took Manuel Ugarte off PSG’s hands the summer they recruited Neves. United have not bought a genuine game-changer in midfield since Sir Alex Ferguson’s heyday, and Ferguson developed such a midfield blind spot that he did not sign one in his final four years in charge. There is an argument that the last midfielder who fit that game-changing billing was Carrick 20 years ago. Owen Hargreaves and Anderson both joined in 2007 and United won the Premier League and Champions League, yet the pair’s impacts were short-term. Already, there is evidence that Carrick the coach is trying to replicate what he experienced as a player during his 12 years at United. In 2006, Ferguson reinvented United’s midfield to offset the departure of Roy Keane. Carrick, an £18.6million signing from Tottenham, received Keane’s squad number and there the similarities ended. Paul Scholes, sidelined for five months with an eye problem, returned in a deep-lying role. Scholes’ vision was no longer impaired and his partnership with Carrick led to a first Premier League title in four years. After Scholes came out of retirement in January 2012, he and Carrick started together 15 times in the second half of that campaign and United lost only twice. Their collapse from an eight-point advantage at the Premier League summit with six games to play was sparked by Ferguson resting Scholes for a midweek 1-0 defeat at Wigan Athletic. Scholes then lined up in the remaining five games. Carrick and Scholes were members of five title-winning squads Credit: Getty – Contributor Scholes and Carrick started 113 games together Credit: Marc Aspland – The Times Whenever a midfield crisis brewed, Ferguson tended to turn to Scholes and Carrick. Overall, they started alongside each other 113 times. It was not a foolproof partnership. Barcelona ran rings around United in two Champions League finals that Scholes did not start in. Those occasions confirmed Carrick never attained the world-class status that Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets did. Mainoo, Santos, Tielemans and Mount are all technical-based players. Certainly not in the class of Scholes and Carrick in their pomp but there are parallels with what Carrick is trying to rekindle. Santos and Mount have started in all four of United’s friendlies, out of necessity. Tielemans is on the scene now and may partner Santos against Leeds United in Dublin on Wednesday if Mount is not risked. United started to display glimpses of transitioning to a more controlling style at the tail-end of last season and that is long overdue. It was beyond Erik ten Hag, who lamented that United would “never” replicate the style of his Ajax side. The only tactic United remain synonymous with is the counter-attack and they have to get away from that. Carrick’s approach goes against the grain of the beefed-up Premier League. The £116m and £75m fees forked out for Anderson and Guimaraes suggest there is little sign of teams becoming lightweight. Santos failed to make the cut for the Brazil World Cup squad and his £50m fee, still steep, indicates he is lower down the food chain. Guimaraes has joined Arsenal Credit: Arsenal FC via Getty Images Anderson has already aimed a dig at United Credit: Isaac Parkin / Manchester City FC He also faces the added pressure of coming up against players United had lined up before they turned to him. Santos will not have to wait long. The first Manchester derby of the season is on September 13 at Old Trafford, where Anderson can expect an inhospitable reception after dubbing City as the “kings of Manchester”. Santos was so softly-spoken at the Ullevi Stadium that it was difficult to hear him as United’s kit men hauled equipment down a nearby ramp. He will have to turn up the volume against Anderson. Comment now