Gary Neville says new Man Utd star is ‘absolutely critical’ to Michael Carrick

Gary Neville believes Manchester United summer signing Carlos Baleba is already ‘absolutely critical’ to Michael Carrick.

Carrick was desperate to bolster his midfield options over the summer and United brought in Baleba, Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos.

The Red Devils have endured a poor start to the new season but the midfield partnership of Baleba and Santos helped produce an improved performance at Elland Road on Sunday.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin cancelled out Bryan Mbeumo’s first-half opener to earn Leeds a point but there were nonetheless positives for Carrick to take from a spirited draw.

Neville said the performance of £70m summer signing Baleba was one such positive, with the Cameroon international already a vital cog in Carrick’s team.

‘I know he had a difficult season last year at Brighton, but you watch him in his first couple of games or so for United, and he’s got something,’ Neville said on his Sky Sports podcast.

‘He’s got a bit of strength about him, he’s got a presence. Him staying fit is gonna be absolutely critical, I can understand why Michael Carrick took him off with 20 minutes to go [at Leeds], because he’s played [nearly] three games in a week.

‘Maybe he doesn’t play him against Como on Wednesday. We’re not throwing the Champions League away, but Manchester United have to beat Bournemouth next weekend.

‘I just wonder whether that Santos-Baleba partnership is going to stay there for a bit, and let a couple of [the attacking players] float around in front, and be a lot more solid, make sure we’re not giving as much space away.

‘I’m sick of Manchester United’s team being easy to play against, and Michael Carrick will be sick of it.’

The appointment of Carrick helped Manchester United climb to third in the Premier League last season and Neville says another top-four finish is essential for the club to continue their development.

‘I would say fourth would be a birdie, fifth would be par, and sixth would be a bogey,’ Neville said of his former club’s targets for the season.

‘But they can’t finish outside the top five, because then you’re missing out on Champions League and it becomes a vicious circle.

‘Then you can’t get those players because they want to play in the Champions League and you can’t get the money from it and you’ve lost the £60m-£70m and you’re in the Europa League on Thursday nights.

‘Fifth is a must for Michael Carrick to continue to grow and Manchester United continue to grow with investment.

‘If they’re 13th in January, he’s got a problem because then you are what you are. Whereas I think it’s still early enough, seven points from seven games, to say, ‘okay, still early in the season’. You can’t say that after 15 games.

‘It has to change in the next few weeks: Bournemouth is really important and Chelsea away. And how he manages the games in between that.

‘You’ve got to say fifth. You know that anything less than fifth is going to be a disappointment and a dropping standard from the start of the season where everybody expected them to finish.

‘And at the moment, they’re well short of that because you look at Brighton, Liverpool, Aston Villa – they look like they’re picking up a little bit. It’s difficult.’

Manchester United, currently 13th in the Premier League, visit Como in the Champions League on Wednesday night, while seventh-placed Leeds travel to Sunderland next weekend.

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