The long wait is over. Manchester United return to Premier League action tonight.
The clash with Leeds United is the return of old rivalries and the start of a sprint to conclude the 2025-26 season. With Carrick and his coaching staff securing seven wins from 10 games and refining an unbalanced football team into something more positive, United are in command of their own footballing destiny when it comes to Champions League qualification.
But as they look to finish strong, there are some topics that continue to dominate. Here, we consider the seven most prominent questions still to be answered with seven games left to play.
When will United qualify for next season’s Champions League?
Carrick and his coaching staff have earned 23 Premier League points out of a possible 30, transforming United’s race for Champions League qualification from a difficult slog into an enjoyable saunter.
Data taken from Opta before West Ham United’s 4-0 win over Wolves on Friday gave the club a 95.84 per cent chance of returning to Europe’s top-tier competition, with English clubs securing a fifth qualification spot earlier this month.
Upcoming fixtures against Chelsea (April 18) and Liverpool (May 3) will give United another chance to distance themselves from the chasing pack and solidify their position in the top five. Champions League qualification is not yet a forgone conclusion, but if United can secure their place in next season’s competition sooner rather than later, it opens up the chance for Carrick to give more minutes to fringe and academy players looking to make a name for themselves.
A club of United’s size and scale need Champions League football. Can Carrick and his coaching staff secure it convincingly?
Is Carrick the No 1 choice for the permanent managerial role?
“Obviously it’s not for us as a player to decide his (Carrick’s) future, but he’s been very good, he’s been doing so much for the team,” said Amad during United’s recent training camp in Kildare, Ireland.
“He has a lot of experience, he knows the club and has the DNA. We think he’s the right man.”
The case for Carrick to become United’s permanent manager has been strengthened by more than the club’s upturn in form. Both Thomas Tuchel and Carlo Ancelotti have signed contract extensions with the English and Brazilian national teams respectively, narrowing any potential managerial shortlist. The 2026 World Cup and busy summer of transfer activity further complicates things.
United are unlikely to name a permanent manager before the end of the season, but could senior decision-makers look to confirm a name before the tournament?
Carrick and his coaching staff have done well enough across 10 Premier League matches to suggest they will have an internal interview for the role.
Is Dorgu’s long-term future at left-back or left-wing?
United’s training camp also teased the return of Mason Mount, Lisandro Martinez and Patrick Dorgu to first-team football. United missed the presence of both Martinez and Dorgu across March, encountering problems down their left-hand side that Matheus Cunha and others attempted their best to navigate.
Dorgu’s recovery presents a positive problem for Carrick and his coaching staff. When the Denmark international reaches full fitness, will he re-establish himself on the left wing as he did in Carrick’s opening two matches against Manchester City and Arsenal, or will his playing future be found at left-back as Luke Shaw’s eventual successor?
“I wouldn’t want to pin him down, because I think he can do both,” was Carrick’s non-committal response when asked about Dorgu following the Manchester derby.
The head coach may see Dorgu as a luxury utility player, able to offer defensive stability at left wing in games against top-six opponents, before dropping him to left-back to offer support to Cunha (or another left-sided forward) in games where United are expected to dominate.
Patrick Dorgu celebrates his goal against Manchester City in January (Copa/Getty Images)
The position Dorgu fills for the remainder of the season could provide clues as to where United might look to recruit in the summer. If Dorgu becomes more of a full-back, could that see United begin a hunt for a left-footed attacking option across the transfer window?
Who features in United’s strongest front three?
Dorgu’s return to fitness presents another attacking option to a front three that is scoring at a steady rate, but has yet to confirm its strongest trio. The start of Carrick’s interim spell saw the Denmark international play on the left with Bryan Mbeumo as a centre-forward and Amad on the right.
Dorgu’s injury saw Cunha introduced on the left, while a goalscoring purple patch for Benjamin Sesko had him alternate between a starting and substitute role as centre-forward. Both Mbeumo and Amad have had difficulty reacclimatising to Premier League duties following AFCON, but both have an ability to conjure something out of nothing in the final third.
Will Carrick use these remaining seven matches to create the strongest front three for all occasions, or will he take a horses-for-courses approach to matches?
United fans are yet to see Dorgu-Sesko-Amad play a large amount of minutes together. It’s a combination that could provide width, direct dribbling and an aerial threat that many teams would struggle to contain.
What sort of midfield partner will Mainoo need for next season?
Casemiro’s January announcement that he would be leaving United at the end of the season brought great clarity to the club’s summer transfer plans. While there will be attempts at signing players to operate on the left-hand side and deputise in defence, United’s No 1 priority will be to acquire a new defensive midfielder.
Kobbie Mainoo’s compatibility with such a player will be a consideration in future scouting reports on prospective midfielders. England’s 1-0 defeat by Japan gave fans a glimpse of how Mainoo might work alongside Elliot Anderson, if such a deal was struck with Nottingham Forest over the summer. Mainoo’s strengths (press-resistant dribbling, sensible short passing) and his comparative weakness (lack of explosive athleticism, still developing progressive passing over long distances) mean United will have to scout and shortlist extensively before deciding on a suitable midfield partner for him in the summer.
The remaining seven matches of the season could be viewed as a test for Mainoo. Can the 20-year-old show refinement in certain aspects of his game, thus reducing the attributes needed in his possible midfield partner/Casemiro successor for next season?
Or will we reach the end of the campaign wondering whether it’s wise to base United’s summer 2026 midfield rebuild around Mainoo’s unique skillset?
Can any academy player break through before the end of the season?
United fans have already got a glimpse of Shea Lacey and Jack Fletcher in 2025-26, but they too could be joined by centre-back Godwill Kukonki and midfielders Jayce Fitzgerald and Jack Moorhouse in having breakout minutes between now and the end of the season.
The late-season academy debut is something of an informal tradition at United.
Can Fernandes break the Premier League’s single-season assist record?
Thierry Henry’s record of 20 Premier League assists in a single season is one of the stranger accomplishments in top-flight football.
Arsenal failed to win the league in 2002-03, finishing five points behind a United team helped by Ruud van Nistelrooy’s goalscoring exploits and 14 wins from the final 17 games.
But Frenchman Henry was in prolific form, also scoring 24 goals. His assist record is one that has stood strong for 23 years, despite the best attempts of playmakers including Cesc Fabregas, Mesut Ozil and Mohamed Salah. Kevin De Bruyne matched the record in 2019-20, but 20 assists appear to be an unbreakable record.
The record looks like it will still stand — unless Bruno Fernandes manages the remarkable in his remaining fixtures. The United captain sits on 16 assists for the season, with his set-piece deliveries forming a potent weapon in his chase: Fernandes’ nine set-piece assists this season sit behind Steven Gerrard’s record of 11 from 2013-14.
Henry’s record-setting 20 assists are a unique curio. At the end of January 2003, the forward only registered seven Premier League assists, but would enjoy a creative flurry towards the end of the campaign, with seven occurring in the final four games of the season.
Everyone recognises the assist record is an incredibly difficult thing to surpass, not least because it requires your team-mates to also be in form.
Yet it would be hard to say Fernandes won’t finish close to Henry and De Bruyne’s 20.
