Manchester United's Midfield Dilemma: Ince on Santos and Mainoo

Paul Ince has never been one to sugar-coat an opinion. On Manchester United’s £50million move for Andrey Santos, he doesn’t even try.

“The jury’s still out,” he says. And that’s him being polite.

A £50m gamble in a crowded midfield

United’s summer has been about rebuilding the middle of the pitch. Casemiro has gone, the spine has shifted, and Old Trafford’s recruitment department has gone hunting for legs, energy and craft.

They chased Elliot Anderson, only to watch him walk into Manchester City’s dressing room instead. Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes slipped away to Tottenham. Three targets, all gone.

So United pivoted. Fast.

Attention turned to Chelsea’s Santos, a 22-year-old Brazil international with clear promise but a limited Premier League résumé. The club moved quickly to close a deal in the region of £50m, a fee that immediately raised eyebrows among former players who know what it takes to run a midfield at Old Trafford.

Ince, who did that job for years, can’t quite get his head around it.

“To spend £50m on a young central midfield player when you’ve got [Kobbie] Mainoo coming through the ranks kind of baffled me a bit,” he told Oddschecker.

United didn’t stop there. After backing away from a proposed deal for Ederson, they triggered a £35m release clause to prise Youri Tielemans away from Aston Villa. The Belgian arrives as a more attacking option, a player Ince likens to Bruno Fernandes in profile and influence.

Tielemans, Santos, ongoing interest in Ederson, the lingering question of Manuel Ugarte’s future. United suddenly have a stack of options for the same patch of grass.

“They’ve got a whole load of midfield players in that position which needed to be strengthened,” Ince said. The issue now is not numbers. It’s balance.

Mainoo at the heart of the debate

Strip away the transfer fees and the noise, and Ince keeps circling back to one name: Kobbie Mainoo.

For him, the 19-year-old isn’t just part of the conversation. He should be at the centre of it.

“I think he’s the man who can play that role. I believe that, he’s got a really good head on his shoulders. He’s young, he’s got legs, he can keep hold of the ball.”

What bothers Ince is not Mainoo’s talent, but how he uses it. Early on, he saw a player doing the basics, nothing more.

“I always thought when Mainoo, when I watched him, he kind of did things easy, got it, passed it. When you play that role, and I’ve played that role for 20 years, you’ve got to do more than that.

“You’ve got to get forward, get into the box, and take shots, he never, never really did that.”

The turning point, in Ince’s eyes, came late last season. Mainoo began to snap into tackles, win duels, drive play, arrive in the box. He stopped hiding behind the simple pass and started imposing himself.

“Towards the back end of the season, he started to tackle, win balls, set things up, get himself in the box, make things happen. And he looks a completely different player.

“So if he can repeat that form this season, then, you know, I think it’d be great for United.”

That’s the puzzle now facing Michael Carrick. How does he fit Santos, Tielemans, potentially Ederson and the maturing Mainoo into a coherent structure? Ince is fascinated to see what the new manager does with his options, especially after what he calls an “immensely disappointing” World Cup for Mainoo with England.

Tielemans, he insists, is a “fantastic player” but more of a Fernandes-type creator than a holding presence. Santos is a sizeable investment with a question mark attached. Mainoo is the homegrown talent on the brink.

Carrick’s midfield isn’t just a selection dilemma. It’s a statement about what kind of United he wants to build.

Rashford at a crossroads

Midfield isn’t the only talking point at Old Trafford. Marcus Rashford’s future continues to hang over the club.

The England international spent last season on loan at Barcelona, rediscovering his spark after falling out of favour under Ruben Amorim. In Spain, he looked liberated. He scored goals, played with freedom, and, in Ince’s words, “looked a completely, completely different player.”

Then came the blow. Barcelona, who had flirted with the idea of keeping him, moved for Anthony Gordon instead in a £75m deal. For Rashford, that was a brutal reality check.

“It absolutely kills him,” Ince admitted.

There were still flashes of his quality on the biggest stage. At the World Cup, he cut in from the left and bent in a trademark finish into the bottom corner, a reminder of the talent that made him one of Europe’s most feared forwards when he’s in full flow.

“And I think Carrick can get the best out of him. I really, really do,” Ince said.

He believes the solution is as much emotional as tactical.

“I think if you just put your arm around Rashford, and I think at the moment he’s a bit unsure of his future. He doesn’t know whether he’s coming or going.

“If Carrick just puts his arm around him and says, ‘Yeah, listen, you know, I want you at the club, I need you at the club. This is where you’re going to play. This is what you’re going to do.’ Then I believe you’re going to see a very, very good Rashford for Manchester United.

“So, fingers crossed that’s the case. But it, there’s one thing for sure, he is a very, very talented player and if he’s happy, he’ll perform for you.”

Carrick is understood to be open to giving Rashford the chance to relaunch his United career. The tools are there: he can play off the left, off the right, stretch defences, and still deliver in big moments. The question is whether club and player can align again after a turbulent spell.

Carrick’s early tests

United’s pre-season has already offered a glimpse of the work ahead.

They opened with a flat 1-0 defeat to Wrexham in Helsinki, a reminder that reputations don’t win matches, even in July. The response was emphatic: a 5-0 dismantling of Rosenburg that hinted at the attacking potential within Carrick’s reshaped squad.

Next up is Atletico Madrid in Stockholm, a step up in intensity and organisation. After that comes a trio of fixtures that will test United in very different ways: Paris Saint-Germain, Leeds United and AC Milan.

These are not just friendlies; they are rehearsals. Carrick has to sift through his new midfield, settle on roles, decide where Santos fits, how much responsibility to hand Mainoo, and where Tielemans and Fernandes can coexist without leaving the team exposed.

He must also decide what Rashford is to this team: cornerstone, rotation option, or asset to be moved on.

The Premier League campaign starts away to newly promoted Hull City on August 22. By then, the noise around Santos’ price tag, Mainoo’s development and Rashford’s future will either have quietened or grown louder.

United have spent heavily and stocked the squad with options. Now comes the hard part: turning those choices into a clear identity.