Carrick Considers Dorgu as Man Utd's Left-Back Solution
Manchester United spent deadline day chasing left-backs and finished it with none. Michael Carrick’s answer might already be in the building.
Patrick Dorgu, described by his manager as “almost like a new signing” after returning from injury, is being lined up as a potential solution to United’s shortage on the left side of defence.
The 21-year-old Dane has been used exclusively as a winger by Carrick so far, starting four times under the United boss. He opened this season on the left flank at Hull City before dropping to the bench for the win over Ipswich. For Denmark, he has even operated off the right, scoring a standout goal from that side during the June internationals.
But his history tells a different story. Before United paid £25million to take him from Lecce in January 2025, Dorgu was playing as a conventional left-back in Serie A. Ruben Amorim had already experimented with him as a wing-back, and that versatility is now back on the table at Old Trafford.
It may soon be needed.
United’s late pushes for Alejandro Balde and Rayan Aït-Nouri fell flat before the window shut on Tuesday night, leaving Luke Shaw as the only specialist left-back in the senior squad. Behind him, Carrick is left juggling a patchwork of options: Dorgu, and the possibility of shuffling Noussair Mazraoui or Diogo Dalot across from the right.
Carrick made it clear Dorgu is very much in that conversation.
“He can certainly play there. He has done, without doubt,” Carrick said. “I’m not sitting here saying he can’t do that. It’s just the way we’ve been since I’ve been here.”
Injuries have already shaped that “way”. Dorgu missed a large chunk of last season with a hamstring problem, limiting him to only three or four appearances under Carrick. That absence colours how the manager now views him.
“He actually has been injured, unfortunately, for some time,” Carrick explained. “You could almost argue that he played three or four times for us last season, so for me, he’s almost like a new player, you know, to have, and it’s almost like a new signing in some ways because he’s added so much to the group.”
The coaching staff have seen enough in training to trust him deeper on the pitch. While the public sample is of a direct, attacking winger, Carrick has watched him drop into the back line during sessions and handle the demands of the role.
“He’s played off the right for Denmark, scored a great goal in the summer playing off the right in a forward position,” Carrick said. “He can play left-back. He’s that type where he can do a number of things. I’m certainly not saying he can’t do that at all.
“It’s something he can, we just haven’t had to explore that. At some point, we might have to, at some point he might do that. He can do that, absolutely no problem. There are times in training when he does it.”
The squad profile almost forces the issue. United are rich in wide attackers, light in full-backs. Dorgu, with his blend of pace, aggression and comfort in advanced areas, offers a hybrid option that could reshape Carrick’s left side without the club spending another pound.
That flexibility comes with a reminder: he is still only 21.
“And then he’s only young, being such a young age and having the attributes that he’s got, we’ve just got to keep trying to get the most out of him,” Carrick added.
United failed to land a left-back in the market. Their season may yet reveal whether the answer was hiding in plain sight on the wing.
