Manchester United Recruitment 2026/2027: Finding New Full-Backs For Michael Carrick Tactics - Data Analysis
Manchester United need greater balance at full-back. This recruitment analysis uses data to assess their current options and identify Lewis Hall, Juan Miranda, Pedro Porro and Marcos Llorente as potential transfer targets.
Last summer, Manchester United made inroads into improving the quality of their squad following their worst-ever Premier League campaign.
They targeted new attackers, along with goalkeeper Senne Lammens.
This summer, the Red Devils’ focus turned to midfield, where they made three notable first-team additions.
Next summer, a defensive reboot is expected at Old Trafford, particularly in the full-back department, with United having missed out on a new left-back to provide competition for Luke Shaw in the most recent transfer window.
In this Manchester United recruitment analysis, we assume the role of Manchester United’s recruitment department by using data analysis to highlight two potential left-back options and two potential right-back options for United to target either in January or next summer.
This piece provides an analysis of United’s current full-back options, where their strengths and weaknesses lie, what Michael Carrick’s side would require most from new full-backs and, finally, we propose potential transfer market solutions.
All seven players in this piece, including Manchester United’s three main full-back options at present, are evaluated through the lens of six custom-built metrics derived from weighted combinations of Wyscout's raw event data, benchmarking each player against all 222 full-backs who have played at least 800 minutes in Europe’s top-five leagues over the past calendar year.
Where Are Manchester United’s Full-Backs Lacking?
The issue with Manchester United’s current full-backs isn’t one of quality, so much as it’s one of completeness.
In other words, the Red Devils shouldn’t necessarily approach their full-back recruitment process by looking for a ‘better Luke Shaw’ or a ‘better Diogo Dalot’; rather, they should look for players who can give them the strengths that those current options bring to the table while also offering significant upgrades in the areas where those current options struggle.
Take Luke Shaw’s data in Figure 1, for example.
Luke Shaw Percentile Ranks 2025/2026
The 31-year-old Englishman offers United decent build-up security and strong aerial ability, giving him a highly respectable performance in two of our six custom full-back metrics.
However, his score is below average to weak relative to his peers in the remaining four areas, which consist of attacking, chance creation and ball progression data, along with our Defensive 1v1 metric.
Like Shaw, Diogo Dalot’s profile also lacks consistency across the board, according to our custom full-back metrics.
Diogo Dalot Percentile Ranks 2025/2026
Dalot also brings strong aerial ability to the table, alongside well-above-average final third creation numbers.
However, the rest of his in-possession data hovers around the average relative to the rest of our dataset, while his Defensive 1v1 performance is extremely low in the sample.
Dalot’s final third data is strong, but not strong enough to make up for the incredibly weak defensive data; thus, Manchester United have a problem.
With Patrick Dorgu covering at left-back but primarily playing as a left winger for the Red Devils, the third and final current Manchester United full-back in our analysis is Noussair Mazraoui.
Noussair Mazraoui Percentile Ranks 2025/2026
Similar to his two teammates above, Mazraoui thrives aerially.
He also offers strong build-up security like Luke Shaw, alongside above-average ball progression numbers.
However, his score is extremely low in our Crossing and Final Third Creation metrics, while he lands around average in the Defensive 1v1 metric.
Bar the attacking data, these numbers aren’t that bad, but it’s also worth noting that Mazraoui accumulated by far the fewest minutes of these three Manchester United full-backs over the past calendar year, so his sample size is smaller than the others, while availability is another key consideration when it comes to evaluating both Manchester United’s existing full-backs and prospective full-back recruits.
None of Manchester United’s full-backs currently offer a strong two-way profile.
The left flank, in particular, lacks attacking threat, while neither side is particularly convincing when it comes to shutting down their side of the pitch defensively.
Dalot, at right-back, is a notable outlier in the sample with his poor Defensive 1v1 score.
Our top Manchester United full-back options have been selected because their profiles would offer greater attacking and defensive balance for Michael Carrick’s side.
Manchester United New Left-Back Transfer Options
Lewis Hall: The Top Target
This one won’t come as a surprise, given United were strongly linked with a move for Lewis Hall this past summer, ultimately failing to get a deal over the line.
Simply put, Lewis Hall is the best two-way left-back in the Premier League right now.
Adrien Truffert at Bournemouth deserves a mention here as well, but I’d give the nod to Hall if required to pick between the two.
Importantly, from a Manchester United recruitment standpoint, Lewis Hall offers a very well-rounded profile with no glaring weaknesses and clear strengths both on and off the ball.
