Manchester United’s start to the 2026/27 season has left Michael Carrick with a massive headache. Their wild 4-4 draw against Aston Villa at Old Trafford pretty much sums up the whole campaign. United showed great spirit to steal a point with two late stoppage-time goals, but leaking four at has kept them down at 18th in the Premier League table with just eight points from 10 matches.
The defensive mess is impossible to overlook. United went two goals down in the first four minutes alone, with Alysson and Nicolas Jackson tearing through some awful defending. They managed to pull level before the break, only to gift Villa two more quick goals right after the restart. Carrick admitted afterwards that individual errors are killing them, and with 30 goals conceded across all competitions already, the stats look brutal.
It has been 70 days since Manchester United last won a match in the Premier League.
— (fan) Frank 🧠🇾🇪 (@FrankEra_) November 8, 2026
Things aren’t clicking going forward either. United certainly see more of the ball under Carrick, averaging 56 percent possession and playing 43 more final-third passes per match than they did late last season. The catch is that their expected goals value per shot sits at a measly 0.08, the second-worst in the league. They get into good areas, but turning that possession into actual danger remains a massive problem.
That is where Morgan Gibbs-White comes into the picture.
According to Graeme Bailey over at TEAMtalk, United have already reached out to Nottingham Forest to sound out the midfielder’s situation for the future.
It is pretty obvious why he is on their radar. Gibbs-White is not a lazy playmaker who just stands around waiting for the ball. His knack for taking the ball on the turn and running at defenders could give United a fresh way to unlock stubborn defences.
His numbers back up the hype, too. Gibbs-White registered 16 goal involvements in the 2025/26 Premier League campaign, creating 45 chances and 14 big chances along the way. He continued to impress in 2026, creating 23 chances from open play by the end of April, a figure bettered by only three players in the league. His own goal threat makes him even more valuable, having scored 10 times in the league since the turn of the year.
On top of that, the 26-year-old works his socks off, which breaks the usual lazy playmaker stereotype. He won back possession over 100 times and nailed 73 percent of his tackles during the Premier League’s tracking period. That defensive shift would be a massive bonus for a United team still trying to figure out how to press properly.
Bruno Fernandes’ ongoing contract drama at Old Trafford adds another layer to this. United are naturally looking at backup plans in case their captain eventually walks, and Gibbs-White offers a different kind of creativity rather than just being a carbon-copy replacement.
Of course, landing MGW will not be straightforward. Tottenham are still keen after nearly signing him back in 2025, with Roberto De Zerbi eager to bring him to north London. Forest also have zero desire to sell. Gibbs-White signed an extension through 2028, and Oliver Glasner views him as vital to the squad. Both TEAMtalk and Football Insider note that Forest are fully confident of keeping him through January.
Pulling off a winter deal would be a tough task with Forest fighting tooth and nail to protect their star man. Even so, United’s enquiries show they are serious about injecting some fresh creativity into Carrick’s midfield.
