Michael Carrick strides in to a plush conference room here at Carton House, the five-star spa hotel which has been home to Manchester United all week, with a big smile on his face. There's a lot for the United boss to be happy about, after all.  
Back home his daughter, Louise, has collected her A-Level results and, here in Ireland, the late returns of Kobbie Mainoo, Marcus Rashford and Lisandro Martinez from the World Cup have added a fresh dynamism to a group who overcame Leeds on penalties at Croke Park only a few hours earlier.  
Carrick, unlike predecessor Ruben Amorim, is level-headed. When the tough questions come his way, bosses are relaxed that Carrick won’t rock the boat like Amorim, who United face on Saturday in Poland when they play AC Milan, would do.

It’s why United were comfortable throwing open the doors to Amazon filmmakers for this season’s ‘All or Nothing’ behind-the-scenes documentary.  
But don't mistake his calmness for ambivalence. Carrick is determined to win, too.  
This has been a summer where top four rivals Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham have all spent north of £100million. Even newly-promoted Coventry and Ipswich have spent more than Manchester United. His message here, though, was crystal clear to those upstairs.

'It can't be for the sake of it, but yeah, of course, we want to improve, we need to improve,’ Carrick says. ‘It's something that we're working towards, for sure.’  
So far only Youri Tielemans, Andrey Santos and back-up goalkeeper Karl Darlow have arrived to strengthen the first-team squad. Tynan Thompson, an £8m pick-up from Tottenham, is seen as one for the future.  
‘I have to say, Karl, Andrey, and Youri, are exactly what we hoped, exactly what we expected in every way,’ he adds.

‘Andrey, for such a young man to come in the way he's come in, his character, his personality is a dream. Literally, he’s a dream.’  
But Carrick knows he needs more. United still need a left back - there have been two failed approaches for Newcastle United’s Lewis Hall this summer - and another central midfielder remains on the agenda.  
By the time this conversation draws to a close, Carrick had referenced a need to ‘push’ in the transfer market four times.

'I think we've got a pretty good balance in all when you lay the squad out, but of course we would like more,’ he continued. ‘We would like more, we need to keep pushing for more.  
‘There's one or two areas where we'd like to improve and we feel that there's the possibility to improve, but again, that needs to be something that we can do that makes us better and improves the group, whether that's quality or whether that's a little bit of depth. That's something we've got to manage. That's pretty obvious.’  
Director of football Jason Wilcox is here in Ireland and remains in ‘constant communication’ with Carrick.  
With a frugal approach to the summer so far, one which has so far seen them fail to land top target Elliot Anderson, Morgan Rogers, and others, can Manchester United seriously contend for a Premier League title this season?

‘I think you've got to have the belief, you've got to be going into the season thinking we can achieve something special,’ he says, reluctant to commit to any bold proclamation for the season ahead.  
‘Don't be going into a season thinking this could be a struggle. We've got to set out to really achieve something.  
‘We've definitely got the potential to achieve something really special. I'm not hiding from the fact, and we should aim to do that.  
‘I'm not going to make any crazy predictions, but I think on the back of what we've done, I keep saying it, I think that gives us the confidence to move forward. How quickly we keep moving forward, that's the challenge.’

There remains a question mark over Marcus Rashford and the prospect of his first minutes in a Manchester United shirt since 2024, when Amorim left him out in the cold, this weekend.  
United have long been open to moving the £325,000-a-week attacker on as part of a plan to reduce the wage bill. They have also been in the market for a left winger all summer, with Crysencio Summerville among the targets, before he opted to move to Saudi Arabia.  
Barcelona passed up on their buy option to sign Rashford, who is now back and training well.

‘He's a very good player, Marcus, and I think if you're going to have a career over 10 or 15 years, there's going to be times when things go in maybe a different direction,’ Carrick adds, before electing not to go as far as ruling out a potential move before the deadline.  
‘I think there's ups and downs, and that doesn't judge you as a one-off kind of judgment. It's what happens over time, and now we're in a positive place as a group, and Marcus can offer us so much.  
‘He has done (in the past), and he can do again, so in that respect, it's quite exciting.’

There’s a return for Kobbie Mainoo too. Carrick kept in touch with Mainoo all summer via text, checking in as he went through the entire World Cup without playing a minute.  
There’s no concerns though. In fact, Carrick believes the Mainoo that has come back is ready to take the Premier League by storm.

'The biggest thing for me, Kobbie's in a really good place,’ he adds. ‘I think he feels that. He’s come back and he's come home and he's ready for a big season.’  
But there are lingering concerns over squad depth with United competing back in Europe this season.

‘We're not naive, we know what we're going into,’ he concludes, pressed on the fact that United are facing the prospect of 15-20 more games than last season’s historically low total of 40.  
‘But we feel we're a stronger group now than we were last season as well in many ways, so we've just got to capitalise on that.’

‘We can achieve something really special’: Man United boss Michael Carrick on aims for new season, the future of Marcus Rashford and why Andrey Santos is a ‘dream’ (Nathan Salt)