Paul Scholes Evaluates Manchester United's Progress Under Carrick

Paul Scholes has welcomed Manchester United’s revival under Michael Carrick – but he is not buying the idea of a title race with Arsenal just yet.

The Old Trafford great, who collected 11 Premier League winners’ medals in his playing days, sees clear progress under his former team-mate. He also sees a gap.

Carrick’s impact – and the new expectation

United were drifting last season. Champions League hopes were fading and even European football looked in doubt before Carrick stepped in for Ruben Amorim in January.

From there, the season flipped.

Carrick steadied the club, sharpened the attack and dragged United up to third place, finishing only seven points behind Manchester City. That surge has fuelled talk that, with a full pre-season and a clear plan, Carrick could go straight into a title battle in his first complete campaign in charge.

Scholes isn’t there yet.

Speaking on The Overlap, he pointed to Carrick’s personality as the foundation of the turnaround. Calm. Measured. Never too high, never too low. Exactly what a previously volatile dressing room needed.

But when the conversation moved to expectations, Scholes drew a line.

“Where you have to judge United’s transfer business is what do you expect from them?” he said. “Are you expecting them to challenge for the Premier League? I still think that’s a little bit away with the business that’s been done.”

Recruitment in pieces – and a missing spine

Scholes sees logic in United’s rebuild, but also limitations.

He feels the club have tried to repair the squad in stages. Last summer, the focus was the forward line. That area, he says, now looks “much better and much more dangerous”.

Benjamin Sesko is central to that. The Slovenian improved as last season went on and offers a genuine threat, but Scholes believes he still needs help. Another centre forward, someone to share the load and protect a young striker through a long campaign.

This summer, the attention has shifted to the middle of the pitch – an area Scholes openly labels a problem from last season. He doesn’t think it has been fully fixed.

“I still think it’s a problem, not just from centre midfield but centre half as well,” he said.

Teams that hurt United, in his view, did it in the most brutal way possible: straight through the centre, exposing a lack of pace and mobility.

Andrey Santos has arrived, but Scholes is not rushing to a verdict. “I’ve hardly seen Santos play so you need to give the lad a chance,” he admitted, before adding that something more may still be required in that area.

Youri Tielemans, another arrival, earns praise for his quality on the ball and his ability to control games. Scholes, though, again circles back to athleticism. Tielemans doesn’t solve that issue either.

So his conclusion is blunt: there is still a problem down the middle, and United still need centre-halves.

Centre-back concerns and injury doubts

Scholes’ biggest worry sits right at the heart of the defence.

“I don’t think the current ones are of the quality to try and win the Premier League and that‘s where I judge Man United,” he said.

Reliability is his key word. Title-winning centre-backs play every week, set a standard, and stay available. United’s, he argues, do not.

Harry Maguire is “starting to pick up niggles”. Lisandro Martinez “just can’t stay fit”. Leny Yoro, a highly rated young defender, has “struggled a bit over the last two years” and, in Scholes’ eyes, the level “looks a little bit above him” at this stage, even if he still has time to grow, especially alongside Ayden Heaven.

For Scholes, that entire spine – centre midfield and centre-back – needs more legs, more solidity, more dependability before United can talk seriously about chasing down Arsenal over 38 games.

Arsenal’s benchmark and Carrick’s next test

The benchmark is unforgiving.

Arsenal arrive as defending champions after lifting their first Premier League title since 2004 and reaching the Champions League final, where they lost to PSG on penalties. They look anything but satisfied.

Their transfer window has been aggressive again. On Sunday, they underlined their intent by dismantling Enzo Maresca’s Manchester City 3-0 in the Community Shield, a statement win before a ball has even been kicked in the league.

That is the level Scholes is measuring United against.

And he believes Carrick’s next challenge goes beyond tactics or signings. It is about the calendar.

“The thing Michael Carrick is going to have to deal with now as well is midweek football,” Scholes said.

Last season, circumstances suited him. No relentless European schedule. More time on the training ground. More rest between games.

Now the load changes. Extra fixtures will stretch the squad and expose any weaknesses in depth, especially in those central areas Scholes keeps returning to.

Title hopes – but not yet

Scholes is not dismissing Carrick’s ceiling. Far from it.

“I think Michael Carrick can win the Premier League with Manchester United,” he said. “But it won’t be this season. But if he can build the right team he can do that.”

The journey starts now.

United open their 2026-27 Premier League campaign this weekend at Old Trafford against newly-promoted Hull City, with expectation rising but reality, as Scholes sees it, still biting.

Arsenal begin their title defence on Friday night against Coventry City, another side fresh from the Championship.

One club defending a crown. The other trying to prove its revival is more than a surge of form under a new manager.

Carrick has changed the mood. The question now is whether, and how quickly, he can change the level.