With former Red Alvaro Carreras now Real Madrid-bound, two reasons have been revealed as to why Erik Ten Hag didn’t rate the Spanish full-back, including a very ironic detail.
Manchester United’s pursuit of a summer rebuild has got off to an extremely slow start, having only secured the signing of Matheus Cunha so far, with no sales made either.
To make matters worse, United’s bids to acquire the services of Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo have surpassed the six-week mark, and he still looks a fair distance away from becoming a Red.
Ruben Amorim’s side are looking at not just attacking reinforcements this summer, but additional depth in all areas of the pitch to help them climb up the Premier League table.
This being said, one sale that could come back to haunt the Red Devils is the sale of Alvaro Carreras, who has recently made a big summer move to Real Madrid for £43million.
Could United live to regret selling Carreras?
Despite netting over £8million from a sell-on clause in the Carreras deal, United may live to regret letting the Spaniard leave so easily for just £5million.
Carreras was sold in January 2024 to Benfica, having not been rated by former United manager Erik Ten Hag. Simon Stone has revealed that the Dutch manager had two main reasons for this.
As per the BBC, via United In Focus, Stone said, “My understanding is Erik ten Hag felt Carreras was not quick enough for the Premier League and struggled against quick players – and that he was more suited to a back-three defensive formation.
“There was no queue of Premier League clubs looking at him, which is how he ended up on loan, first at Granada and then Benfica.”
United’s back-three irony
No one would be blamed for having a certain amount of scepticism about these two reasons, given how Ten Hag used more immobile centre-backs as full-backs during his tenure, as opposed to Carreras.
The irony of this is that only a matter of months after selling a player so well-suited to a back-three formation, United then went on to hire Amorim, a specialist in the back-three formation.
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This incoherence sums up the lack of planning that has occurred behind the scenes for the Red Devils in recent history, which has often led them to take steps backwards.
Hopefully, for the sake of United fans, the club can find some success under Amorim; otherwise, it will be another case of sacking a manager, changing the formation, and then needing a new supply of players to suit.
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