Manchester United 2025/26 Season Review: A Step Forward

Manchester United’s 2025/26 season is finally written in ink, and for once in recent years, the story feels like a step forward rather than another chapter of drift. Third place in the Premier League, Champions League football secured, and Michael Carrick handed the reins on a permanent basis. Old Trafford, at last, has a bit of a spring in its step.

What follows is the campaign, player by player, as it really was.

Goalkeepers

Senne Lammens – 9

Nobody saw this coming. Lammens arrived with little fanfare and almost no pressure. He leaves the season as one of the standout goalkeepers in the league. Commanding, assured, and increasingly vocal, he turned a problem position into a pillar of the side. This was a statement debut year, and there’s a sense he’s only just getting started.

Altay Bayindir – 3.5

The contrast could not be sharper. Bayindir’s early-season errors cost United points and, with them, a genuine tilt at the title. Every mistake seemed to weigh heavier than the last. For a club trying to move on from chaos, he became a symbol of it. It would be a surprise if he is still here when the next campaign kicks off.

Full-backs

Luke Shaw – 7.5

Fit. Consistent. Dangerous. Words rarely used together about Shaw in recent years, but this season he finally strung it all together. His fitness held, his form followed, and he capped it with a goal against Forest. United have waited a long time for this version of Shaw. The question now is whether he can repeat it.

Diogo Dalot – 7.5

Carrick’s arrival changed Dalot’s season. Restored to his natural full-back role, he looked liberated, driving forward with purpose and defending with more conviction. Since January, he has been one of the first names on the teamsheet. A player reborn, and a reminder that clarity of role can transform a career.

Tyrell Malacia – 2

Barely a footnote. Two substitute appearances, one painful moment against William Osula, and little else. The club has already confirmed he will leave on a free. His season, and his United spell, simply fizzled out.

Centre-backs

Leny Yoro – 6.5

Flashes of what he could be, not enough of what he must be. Yoro’s campaign veered between promising and passive, the raw talent obvious but the authority still missing. United will want to give him more minutes next season, yet a loan is no longer an outlandish idea. He’s at the crossroads.

Harry Maguire – 7.5

Written off, then written into a new contract. Maguire became invaluable to Carrick, starting regularly and bringing a measure of calm to a back line that has often lacked it. He may no longer be the future of United’s defence, but he is very much its present. His experience will matter in the Champions League.

Noussair Mazraoui – 5

A year ago, he looked like one of the finds of the squad. This season, he resembled a shadow of that player. The energy dropped, the influence waned, and the doubts grew. A sale is no longer unthinkable. For a team moving forward, he has been treading water.

Lisandro Martinez – 7

The story is painfully familiar. When he plays, United look sharper, braver, more aggressive. But he doesn’t play often enough. Injuries keep dragging him out of rhythm and out of the side. United can no longer build a season around his availability. They need him as a bonus, not a foundation.

Matthijs de Ligt – 5

He started like a cornerstone. Rio Ferdinand even called him United’s best defender early in the campaign. Then December came, the injury hit, and the season effectively ended for him. The surgery is done, the recovery is under way. Next season will tell whether that early form was a glimpse or a promise.

Ayden Heaven – 8

One of the revelations of the year. When Heaven started, he looked untouchable: composed on the ball, aggressive without it, and mature beyond his years. The only thing that held him back was United’s limited fixture list. On form, he has a strong case to start ahead of Martinez. That battle will define the defensive pecking order.

Tyler Fredricson – 2

Expected to step up. Instead, he disappeared. After the humbling defeat to Grimsby in August, he didn’t play another minute. All signs point towards an exit in the summer, his breakthrough season never really beginning.

Midfield

Bruno Fernandes – 10

This was the season Bruno stepped out of the “important player” bracket and into something much bigger. The best player in the Premier League across the campaign, he swept up individual honours and dragged United through tight games with his creativity and relentlessness. He equalled the Premier League assist record, orchestrating attacks with ruthless consistency. United know how fortunate they are. Seasons like this are the stuff legacies are built on.

Casemiro – 9

If this was the goodbye tour, it was done on his terms. Casemiro delivered the highest goal-scoring season of his career and left his mark on big moments. The legs may not cover as much ground as they once did, but the brain still sees the game a second quicker than most. He leaves, or at least winds down, as a cult hero, not a cautionary tale.

Kobbie Mainoo – 8

From the edge of the exit door to the heart of the project. Post-Amorim, Mainoo seized his second chance, reclaimed his starting spot, and earned a new long-term contract. His calm in tight spaces, his vision between the lines, and his growing authority point to a special midfielder making up for lost time.

Manuel Ugarte – 3.5

Every substitution board with his number on it brought a sense of dread. Ugarte’s appearances coincided with United losing control of games, the midfield turning ragged and disjointed. The pattern became too clear to ignore. A summer sale now looks not just possible but logical.

Mason Mount – 5.5

There was a moment, early on under Ruben Amorim, when it looked like Mount might finally click at Old Trafford. Then came the injuries, the stop-start rhythm, and the slow fade from the picture. He remains a good player without a clear role. For a club trying to trim the squad and raise funds, he feels like an obvious candidate to move on.

Jack Fletcher – 5

A debut, a miscast role, and a lesson. Used too defensively against Newcastle, Fletcher struggled to show his strengths. The hope is that next season brings more opportunities in a role that actually suits him.

Tyler Fletcher – 5.5

Unlike his twin, Tyler’s single outing came in his favoured position, and it showed. Confident, neat, and unfazed, he offered a glimpse of what he could bring. One appearance is too little to judge, but it was enough to encourage.

Attack

Matheus Cunha – 8

Slow start, strong finish. Cunha grew into the shirt and into the demands of leading the line for United, finishing with 10 league goals in his debut season. His movement knitted attacks together, his work rate set the tone from the front. There is a sense of unfinished business about him, which is exactly what you want heading into year two.

Benjamin Sesko – 8

From “worst signing of the summer” to one of the quiet success stories of the campaign. Sesko responded to early criticism with 11 league goals in just 17 starts, a return that underlines his potential as a long-term solution up front. The raw edges remain, but the numbers speak clearly.

Bryan Mbeumo – 7.5

Double figures for goals, intelligent movement, and a strong contribution across the season. Yet his form dipped under Carrick, just when others were rising. That drop-off costs him half a mark. The talent is unquestioned; the challenge now is sustaining it under the new manager’s demands.

Amad Diallo – 5.5

Last season’s breakout star stalled. Amad still found good positions, still showed flashes of his dribbling and link-up play, but his finishing deserted him. Two goals is a meagre return for someone tipped to be United’s most dangerous attacker. This summer is about rebuilding belief and sharpening that final touch.

Joshua Zirkzee – 4

There were moments: a clever flick here, a neat combination there. But across the season, Zirkzee only underlined why it is unlikely to work for him at United. The fit never quite felt right. A move in the summer looks like the cleanest solution for all parties.

Shea Lacey – 7

Every cameo hinted at something exciting. Lacey played with fearlessness, stepping up from academy level as if it were the most natural thing in the world. His red card in the FA Cup was a blot, but not a defining one. The strike against Burnley that almost flew in would have changed the conversation entirely. Even without it, he looks far too good for youth football now.

Bendito Mantato – 5

On the fringes, dipping in and out without ever truly shaping the season. Mantato showed enough to justify the club’s interest in his development, but not enough to demand a bigger role just yet. Next year will be decisive for where he sits in the pecking order.

Carrick’s first full season ends with Champions League football, a revitalised core, and a star in Bruno Fernandes at the peak of his powers. The rebuild is far from complete, but for the first time in a while, the question around Manchester United is not “How bad could this get?” but “How far can this group actually go?”