Carrick to Transform Dorgu into United’s New Left-Back

Manchester United might have found their left-back solution without spending another penny – and Michael Carrick knows it.

With the transfer window shut and late moves for Alejandro Balde and Rayan Ait-Nouri falling through on Tuesday night, Luke Shaw stands alone as the club’s only natural left-back. Behind him, it’s a patchwork of possibilities. One of them, crucially, is Patrick Dorgu.

Carrick has already hinted that the 21-year-old Dane could be pushed back into defence, describing him as “almost like a new signing” after his return from injury.

Dorgu has only just started to build his United story. He’s made four starts under Carrick but lost a big chunk of last season to a hamstring problem. On the opening day of this campaign at Hull City he was used on the wing, then dropped to the bench for the win over Ipswich.

So far under Carrick, he has been seen purely as an attacking option. Ruben Amorim previously used him as a wing-back, but it was at Lecce, operating as a more orthodox left-back, that he caught United’s eye and earned a £25million move from Serie A in January 2025.

That background suddenly matters again.

With no new full-back through the door, Carrick is weighing up his internal options. Alongside makeshift candidates like Noussair Mazraoui and Diogo Dalot, Dorgu offers something different: genuine experience of the role, plus the energy and attacking instincts Carrick craves from his wide defenders.

“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.

“He actually has been injured, unfortunately, for some time. 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 irony is that Dorgu has impressed most for Carrick higher up the pitch. He has looked lively off the left for United and, for Denmark, has even been pushed over to the right flank, where he scored a superb goal during the June internationals.

But United’s squad is heavy with wingers and light at full-back. That imbalance is hard to ignore. At some stage this season, necessity may drag Dorgu back towards his old job.

“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.

“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’s problem at left-back might yet become Dorgu’s big opportunity.