Pogba and Sancho stand as warning for any Carrick rebuild

Manchester United’s summer of 2021 once felt like the moment the club might finally close the gap on its rivals. Instead, with Bruno Fernandes now the only surviving attacker from that push, the decline of several high-profile names has become a stark lesson in how quickly a rebuild can unravel.

A squad that once promised momentum

There was genuine excitement around Old Trafford at the start of that campaign. Ole Gunnar Solskjær had overseen a period of steady progress and United appeared to be adding the kind of attacking quality needed to move closer to the top. Jadon Sancho arrived as one of the most sought-after young English players in the game, while Fernandes and Paul Pogba were expected to provide the creative edge.

Pogba, in particular, looked in outstanding form early on, producing four assists against Leeds to match the Premier League record for assists in a single game. Around them, United also had Donny van de Beek, Marcus Rashford, Mason Greenwood and Anthony Martial. On paper, Solskjær had an enviable range of attacking options.

The later arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo became the defining story of that summer, but the broader point is that United already believed they had assembled the tools for a more serious challenge.

Why the plan failed

Solskjær, supported by Michael Carrick and Kieran McKenna, was trying to push the team away from a counterattacking identity and towards a more dominant, possession-based style. It was an attempt to make United play more like the club believed it should.

That shift, however, proved difficult to sustain. Heavy home defeats to Manchester City and Liverpool damaged confidence and exposed how fragile the transition was. Solskjær later admitted the team simply was not ready for that step, saying on the Stick to Football podcast in 2024 that United wanted to go toe-to-toe with elite opponents but were “not good enough”.

In that context, the stories of Pogba and Sancho have come to represent more than individual disappointment. They reflect a wider failure of planning during Solskjær’s reign and, more broadly, during Ed Woodward’s time as chief executive.

The cost of muddled recruitment

United’s post-Alex Ferguson years were often shaped by a pursuit of star names, with football logic and commercial appeal too often intertwined. The Ronaldo deal came to symbolise that approach, particularly given the sense that keeping him away from Manchester City was seen as a public-relations victory as much as a football decision.

Pogba and Sancho, signed for a combined £163m, bookended that era of excess. Both arrivals were framed as emotional returns or natural fits, but the reality was more complicated. Sancho, especially, struggled to cope with the weight of expectation after joining from Borussia Dortmund.

Solskjær later explained that Sancho suffered an ear infection and was hospitalised shortly after the transfer, an issue that disrupted his early progress. The United manager still believed he had signed the right profile of player, someone capable of offering skill, link-up play and a different solution in the final third.

A cautionary tale for the future

What stands out now is how little remains of that attacking project. Sancho has left after his contract expired, having barely featured for United in the past three years and spending time on loan at Dortmund, Chelsea and Aston Villa. He is now a free agent. Pogba, too, is without a club.

That Fernandes is the only attacker still standing from that period says everything about the scale of the collapse. For anyone considering a rebuild with Carrick’s influence in mind, the lesson is clear: talent alone is not enough, and expensive signings do not guarantee a coherent team.

United’s 2021 vision was not short on ambition. What it lacked was the structure, clarity and stability to make that ambition last.