Manchester United

Undefeated Everton host a Manchester United side bidding for a first away win of the season.

BBC Sport examines some of the key themes ahead of their meeting at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Sunday (14:00 BST).

As timelines go, turbulent doesn't really do justice to the final days of Everton's transfer window.

A £40m offer for academy prospect Harrison Armstrong was accepted and then rebuffed following a fan backlash. Four players left on deadline day, including star winger Iliman Ndiaye, with only two brought in.

A £40m deal for Monaco forward Folarin Balogun collapsed spectacularly at the 11th hour.

The net result is that Everton will play until January with only 18 senior outfield players available.

Toffees boss David Moyes used 22 players in the Premier League last season, the fewest of any manager, but even for someone who prefers to work with a smaller squad, Everton's resources look stretched at best for a side who will play at least 17 games before the transfer window opens again in January.

One positive on a difficult deadline day was the loan signing of Jack Grealish for a second successive season from Manchester City.

Grealish proved to be a popular addition to the Everton squad in 2025-26 before a stress fracture to his foot ended his campaign after a 1-0 win at Aston Villa in January.

While Everton's goal output was broadly the same with and without Grealish, their win percentage and points-per-game tallies were both significantly higher with the 30-year-old in the side.

Despite missing four months of the season, only James Garner (seven) provided more assists than Grealish's six for the club, while Grealish ranked top for fouls won (58) and touches in the opposition box (105).

The England international's creative numbers also compared favourably to Ndiaye.

Grealish created eight more chances, won 21 more fouls and provided three more assists in the Premier League despite playing 12 fewer games than the Senegal international.

Manchester United had challenges of their own during the transfer window having not signed a left-back to offer competition to Luke Shaw.

United did still spend about £100m on new players, including marquee signing Carlos Baleba.

The central midfielder, who joined for an initial £65m from Brighton, could make his debut this weekend, although United may look to another matchwinner.

Captain Bruno Fernandes scored a hat-trick in the 5-2 win against Ipswich Town and he enjoys playing against Everton.

The Portugal international has been involved in 11 goals in 13 Premier League appearances against the Merseyside club, scoring six and assisting five, the joint most of any United player.

This will be 20th Premier League game of Michael Carrick's second tenure in charge of the club, with no side winning more points than United's 42 during this period.

And United tend to do well in this fixture. They have won six of the past eight Premier League games against Everton (D1, L1), keeping a clean sheet in five of those wins.

Simon Stone
Manchester United reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester United chief executive Omar Berrada says the club can win trophies despite its current debt levels.

Figures in their third quarter financials - which run up to 31 March - show United owed £1.29bn at the end of last year.

However, a bond refinancing at a higher interest rate in June means servicing the debt will cost more, while the club are yet to outline what they intend to do with the additional $125m (£92.45m) they borrowed at the same time.

Many fans have blamed the financial situation at United for the failure to match many of their rivals' spending in the transfer market this summer.

Addressing the transfer situation in his news conference on Friday, head coach Michael Carrick said: "The situation is what it is, in terms of finances and what we can work with."

However, he then rejected the notion any kind of spending restriction was in place.

Debt was one of the key points raised in a question and answer session with Berrada at the United Fans Forum meeting on 30 July, the minutes of which have been published on the club's official website.

"We have shown that with debt, we can not only be profitable, but more importantly, win trophies with the current structure that we have," said Berrada. "And our aim is to do that again."

Berrada also admitted the club's initial communication around the ticketing investigation that has created so much anger from some fans should have been better.

"It was the club's intention to tackle touting – which is problematic for the club and our loyal supporters," he said.

"There are no hidden intentions, the club is not trying to make financial gains from this process nor trying to reduce the number of season tickets available.

"We acknowledge there are learnings to be made from this investigation, and the initial communications should have been better to explain to fans what we are trying to do, and we will improve on this as a club."

Simon Stone
Manchester United reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Michael Carrick mentioned the word finances but bit back on the idea of a restriction being applied to Manchester United's summer transfer dealings when he spoke to the media before his side's trip to Everton.

Many supporters are furious there was no left-back or striking signing to add to the three midfielders United brought in; at a cost of £150m.

The nearest they came to a deadline day deal was letting Joshua Zirkzee join Everton, and even that was quickly written off as a non-starter because United couldn't sign a replacement.

"The situation is what it is, in terms of finances and what we can work with and what we're trying to get the most of," said Carrick.

"I didn't say restrictions. I'm just saying that's the situation that we have. Whatever the amount is, you want to make the most of it."

As for Zirkzee, it is not entirely clear why United feel he can be so valuable given the alternative options Carrick has for the striking roles.

Nevertheless, the United boss feels Zirkzee can make a positive contribution.

"Josh is important," he said. "He is happy here and I've a really good relationship with him.

"He wants to play more than he has done, and that's healthy competition for places, because we have a lot of games coming up, even in the next couple of weeks.

"Josh can do some really top things. I'm looking forward to him doing that a little bit more often."

Listen to Carrick below or on BBC Sounds here

Grace Wheeler
BBC Sport

Manchester United boss Michael Carrick has been speaking to the media before Sunday's Premier League game against Everton at Hill Dickinson Stadium (kick-off 14:00 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Carrick spoke on the transfer window: "We went into the window wanting to come out stronger from the group we had last season and we have definitely added to that, a lot of good work in that respect and the situation is what it is in terms of finances and what we can work with. Certainly the players we have brought into the group I'm absolutely delighted with. I think we have done some really good business."

• He added: "You can always look at it and think there are other things we could have done or might have done, but some things become available. Largely, I think we are in a good place with the squad, we have players that are flexible throughout the team and can play in different positions as and when needed."

• On Benjamin Sesko's recovery from injury: "Ben is improving his fitness all the time, he has had some time off, which was important. He made big strides last season, he is still young and adapting and developing. There is loads more to come."

• Carrick on bringing in three new midfielders and how they may be used: "Sometimes to change during a game, or game to game. There is a balance there and we need to get it right - the feeling we have on different partnerships and combinations we can rely on. Injuries and suspensions may come and we have to get through that. As it stands, we have got a really strong group."

• He was asked for his thoughts on Patrick Dorgu having not played left-back for Manchester United: "He can certainly play there, he has done. I am not sitting here saying he can't do that, it is just the way we have been since I have been here. He only played three or four times for us last season, so for me he is almost like a new signing, he has added so much to the group."

• Carrick continued: "He has played off the right for Denmark, he scored a great goal this summer. There are times in training when he does it, being such a young age and having the attributes he has got, we have got to get the best from him."

• On 25-year-old Joshua Zirkzee: "For sure Josh is important, for the team, for the squad, the depth. Josh is happy here and I have a really good relationship with Josh. He wants to play more than he has but that is good healthy competition."

• The manager didn't seem to be worried about Josh's capabilities, he said: "Josh can do some really top things, I have seen it myself."

• Carrick knows what it is going to be like playing Everton away: "However long I have been going to Everton, every single game has been as tough as they come. Whatever position we are in, whenever I have been there it has been tough. We are expecting as tough a game as it gets."

Follow all of Friday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

Got a question about Man Utd? Get in touch here and we'll seek answers from our experts

You can listen live commentary of the match on BBC Radio 5 Live

Simon Stone
Manchester United reporter

Image source, Getty Images

It's essentially as you were for Michael Carrick and Manchester United this weekend.

With no ins or outs on deadline day and Carlos Baleba still recovering from an ankle injury, Carrick is likely to have the same squad available as last week for the Premier League trip to Everton.

The Hill Dickinson Stadium was one of the places where Carrick engineered a notable away success after replacing Ruben Amorim last season.

But the game itself was most notable for Everton's salvage mission, which essentially amounted to them repeatedly dropping corners and crosses deep into the Manchester United penalty area in the hope of crowding Senne Lammens into making a mistake.

Even David Moyes said he wasn't keen on the tactic – and it didn't work anyway.

After losing the opening day game at Hull, United will not want to drop any more points ahead of their Champions League return and Manchester derby clash with City at Old Trafford next weekend.

Carrick is due to speak about the Everton trip shortly.

Image source, Getty Images

Former Manchester United striker Fraizer Campbell has had his say on the club's summer transfer window.

He told BBC Radio Manchester: "We just always want more, don't we? Never quite happy with rebuilding the midfield.

"It's one of those things. I think years gone by, United would have gone out and panicked at this stage and spent a fortune, rightly or wrongly, on a player they didn't really want.

"In a sense it's positive, but It's frustrating when you hoped to see another few faces coming through the door, but we didn't see any.

"Top three would be fantastic for us, top four is the bare minimum. With that in mind, the squad should be OK to get us until at least January.

"I'm excited to see how the manager gets the best out of this group of players, because it does have a good feel around the place."

Listen by pressing play below or on BBC Sounds here

Alex Bysouth
BBC Sport Senior Journalist

The 'here we go' is on hold, the 'bombas' are done and dusted and the window panes are reverberating after being forcefully closed on Tuesday night.

Now comes the moment for new arrivals to make their mark on the pitch rather than the balance sheet.

Throughout the Premier League era there have been hordes of transfer hits and misses, but today we're looking at those signings who proved game-changing for their club and the competition, the ones who really moved the needle.

I've ranked my top 10 and here are my Manchester United choices and where they are placed.

Image source, Getty Images

5. Robin van Persie, Arsenal to Manchester United, £22.5m, August 2012

It was a sign of how the Manchester United and Arsenal rivalry had cooled.

Once the key protagonists in Premier League heavyweight contests, the Gunners would seemingly never contemplate allowing their top scorer to join United.

Yet on the back of a season in which he netted 30 goals to finish as the league's top scorer, Robin van Persie left Arsene Wenger's outfit to line up for Sir Alex Ferguson, who was scorned by Manchester City's emergence and desperate to return the title to Old Trafford.

Van Persie went on to score 26 times as United reclaimed the throne in Ferguson's final season - the club's 20th title - while Arsenal slipped to a distant fourth.

Image source, Getty Images

Eric Cantona, Leeds United to Manchester United, £1.6m, November 1992

Where do you start with Eric Cantona? The maverick Frenchman arrived in England having won the title with Marseille, which was followed by a two-month ban for throwing a ball at a referee and a fallout with the hierarchy.

Advised to move to England, he rocked up at Leeds - via a trial at Sheffield Wednesday - in January 1991 and swiftly helped them clinch the First Division title.

A few months into the new season, Cantona's relationship with manager Howard Wilkinson broke down.

Manchester United, languishing in mid-table by late November, without a league title in 26 years and having been dumped out of the Uefa Cup by Torpedo Moscow, came calling - after their bid for Wednesday striker David Hirst was rejected.

Cantona proved a revelation. He scored nine times in 23 games and was influential as United ended up winning the inaugural Premier League title by 10 points.

The forward would win four titles in five years at Old Trafford, including two league and cup doubles, laying the foundations for a generation of success before his shock retirement in 1997.

Read Alex's top 10 game-changing transfers in Premier League history and make your own selections here

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Manchester United striker Chido Obi will join Eredivisie side Willem II on a season-long loan, subject to registration.

The 18-year-old, who scored 15 goals in 31 appearances for the United under-21's last season, has made seven senior appearances for the first team.

Obi made his Reds first-team debut in February 2025 against Tottenham, before becoming United's youngest-ever Premier League starter against Brentford later that season.

On confirming his move, the club said: "Everybody at United wishes Chido the best of luck for the season ahead and looks forward to watching him continue his development."

Manchester United decided against signing a left-back in the final few days of the transfer window because they were unable to identify an option of adequate quality to bolster their squad. (Express, external)

Want more transfer stories? Read Thursday's full gossip column

Follow the gossip column on BBC Sport

Steve Sutcliffe, Emlyn Begley and Gary Rose
BBC Sport journalists

Premier League clubs have broke their all-time summer transfer record with spending reaching £3.49bn.

A total of £506.5m was spent on deadline day itself, up from £391m last year.

The total amount spent during the window considerably dwarfs the £1.13bn spent by clubs just five years ago and underlines the power top English clubs have to attract talent, according to figures provided to BBC Sport by Paul Macdonald, founder of FootballTransfers.com.

Three of the 10 most expensive signings in the history of football have happened this summer – with all of them being Premier League signings. In fact, this summer window featured four of the top flight's five most expensive ever deals.

So maybe it is not surprising then that of the 20 most expensive transfers completed, only six were not to clubs in the English top flight.

Indeed, newly-promoted Ipswich have spent more on new signings than the likes of Barcelona, AC Milan, Juventus and reigning European champions PSG.

Premier League clubs as a whole were willing to dip deep into their pockets this summer, as 11 of the 20 clubs broke their transfer records, six of them on more than one occasion.

Coventry, promoted to the Premier League alongside Ipswich and Hull, have done so four times over.

Read more on the Premier League's record-breaking transfer spending

Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter

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Manchester United youngster Jack Moorhouse has joined Dundee on loan for the remainder of the season.

Moorhouse was on the brink of joining Everton last month but the Merseysiders pulled out at the 11th hour.

The 20-year-old midfielder, who made 24 appearances on loan at Leyton Orient in the first half of last season, subsequently received a number of offers in League One, plus abroad.

However, he believes the Scottish Premiership offers the best chance to develop, having noted the impact made by United Premier League 2 squad team-mate Jacob Devaney at St Mirren last term.

We asked for your views on Manchester United's transfer business.

Here are some of your thoughts:

Emmanuel: Not very impressive, especially with the club's participation in the Champions League. Our defence needs to be strengthened. Good players are there, but we ain't signing them.

Ron: Interestingly, Manchester United's best signing of the summer is not a transfer signing at all, given that it is Marcus Rashford!

Carl: A disappointing window. We needed a left-back and, in my opinion, another striker to be more competitive. An option open to us would be Oleksandr Zinchenko, who is a free agent and could provide cover for Luke Shaw. And why not give Karim Benzema a short-term deal?

Tom: It was obvious what was going to happen a long time ago. Last year, concentrate on the attack. This year, concentrate on the midfield. Next year, concentrate on the defence. Within all of the above, if an opportunity arises, such as Senne Lammens, then they will go for it. Once all areas have been addressed, every year after that can be based on replacing players from any of the areas. We needed the initial focused approach.

George: You do not look at other teams spending fortunes and say, 'We should have done that.' United have an incredible amount of talent in the academy. Maybe it's time for the Class of '27.

Arsenal have started the new Premier League season with two wins as the transfer window closes, looking in ominous shape to retain the crown they won for the first time in 22 years last season.

Have their main rivals done enough to prevent Mikel Arteta's side winning a second successive title?

And what are the other big issues as the Premier League's transfer business was concluded until January?

After addressing their attack last summer when they brought in Benjamin Sesko, Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha, United's window this time has been about midfield renewal as Youri Tielemans, Andrey Santos and Carlos Baleba were signed.

Is it enough to make United serious contenders after Michael Carrick took them to third place and back into the Champions League last season after succeeding Ruben Amorim in a caretaker capacity?

Unlikely.

Carrick is now in permanent charge, but this has been a mixed start to the season with defeat at newly-promoted Hull City before a 5-2 win against other Premier League newcomers Ipswich Town.

United decided not to make any late moves, leaving Carrick's squad looking more like one who will realistically challenge for the top four once more but will be nowhere near the title.

As 23:00 BST ticked by on 1 September and the suspicion became reality, many Manchester United fans thought the same thing – what about a left-back?

Since the 2025-26 season ended, and United's summer transfer strategy started to be debated, it seemed obvious the club would move to address a perceived weakness in Michael Carrick's squad.

Luke Shaw is their only senior orthodox left-back. He started all 38 Premier League games last season, which given his previous injury record was phenomenal.

Firstly, it must be acknowledged Manchester United really like Lewis Hall.

Had they been able to do a deal with Newcastle for him, they would have done.

However, raided by Premier League rivals for their star men this summer, it became obvious in discussions around the highly-rated 22-year-old if Newcastle were to be persuaded to strike a deal, the transfer fee would be huge.

Manchester United's summer transfer budget was finite.

Faced with the reality of the situation, they opted to maintain their focus on the 'priority' midfield area and eventually committed £70m to bring in Carlos Baleba from Brighton.

Hall, it was concluded, is someone they are prepared to wait until next summer for.

United would have been prepared to take Balde on loan. Barcelona would only sell him. Salinas had a relatively low release clause, but Atletico Madrid were favourites to sign him. By the time they moved on to Argentina defender Nicolas Tagliafico, who they missed out on anyway, United had moved on themselves.

Their decision to belatedly act on an initial approach made by an agent around Ait-Nouri was an admission they are not totally certain of the path they have chosen.

Effectively that is Shaw as first-choice left-back, with Noussair Mazraoui as back-up, in a position he admittedly plays in for Morocco, supported by Diogo Dalot, who has switched flanks before, and Harry Amass.

• Read more on Man Utd's left-back issue

The team on The Devils' Advocate podcast are digging into Manchester United's left-back situation this week in the aftermath of transfer deadline day.

The Stretford Paddock's Jay Motty joined the podcast to discuss the lack of a left-back signing.

"Now it's up to Michael Carrick to make it work," he said.

"All I hope is we sort of take this into consideration when we judge Michael Carrick this season. If we are having difficulties at left-back, it's not his fault. There's no way he went to the board and said 'don't get me a left-back'.

"I hope that if United are struggling in that department, we can understand it's not necessarily Carrick's fault, it's those above him."

Listen below or on BBC Sounds here - and don't forget to subscribe to get each episode into your My Sounds feed.

Explore all Manchester United content on BBC Sounds

Simon Stone
Manchester United reporter

Image source, Getty Images

To pinch a Michael Carrick news conference answer, there are two ways of looking at Manchester United's transfer business this summer as a whole.

There is an argument to say there is a lot to like about what they have done.

They targeted midfield as a priority area and brought in three internationals, all well known to the Premier League. Andrey Santos and Carlos Baleba have plenty of development in them and most Aston Villa fans were sad to see Youri Tielemans leave, which is usually a sign of good business for the buying club.

In addition, United stuck to chief executive Omar Berrada's summer pledge not to be held to ransom by agents, not to overpay and not to get sucked into bidding wars.

They also seem to have adopted a long-term strategy of letting younger players leave for relatively small initial fees, while loading up the sell-on and buy-back clauses. It means moves have been completed that should ensure the players get games, thus increasing their chances of doing well, which would lead to potentially higher transfer fees, where the sell-on aspect would kick on - or, if they did really well, a return as part of a buy-back.

These measures are all worthy of praise.

But for some, it is not enough. They see the lavish spending of Manchester City, Tottenham and Chelsea, and Arsenal being linked with Vinicius Jr, and wonder why United, one of the biggest clubs in the world, cannot follow suit.

Old Trafford officials argue they are having to deal with years of poor recruitment and no-one could dispute the validity of this.

However, it is also true they are having to deal with debt – both the size of it, in excess of £1bn, and the amount it costs to service it.

That sum will increase because of a summer refinancing of £317m worth of bonds, which not only led to a further $125m (£92.5m) debt being taken on, but also the interest to pay it rising from 3.79% to 5.36%.

In the next few weeks, United will announce financial results to 30 June 2026. In the third quarter accounts, to 31 March 2026, United confirmed net finance costs of £20.3m for the previous three months, and £55.7m for the previous nine months, although that was put down to an "unfavourable swing in foreign exchange rates".

In September 2025, respected football finance blogger Swiss Ramble estimated United had paid £852m in interest alone since the Glazer family completed their leveraged buyout in 2005.

That money, fans critical of United's transfer business this summer say, would be a game-changer if it was added to the overall pot.

What do you make over the overall transfer business at Old Trafford this summer?

Get in touch with your views here

Simon Stone
Manchester United reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester United striker Chido Obi is in talks over a loan move with Eredivisie outfit Willem II.

The 18-year-old has struggled since breaking into the first team under Ruben Amorim at the end of the 2024-25 campaign.

He only made the bench once last term, when his appearances were restricted to the under-21 side and around United's run to the FA Youth Cup final. He did feature in the pre-season match against Rosenborg in Trondheim in July.

He scored 22 goals, four of them in one match against Leicester, although he did net four in five FA Youth Cup matches.

Chido was not involved in either of United's Premier League 2 victories so far this season.

There had been an expectation he would move to Bundesliga outfit Cologne in the summer but that deal failed to materialise as Manchester City's Reigan Heskey signed for them permanently instead.

The Eredivisie transfer window does not close until Wednesday evening.