Michael Carrick was asked this week whether the club had guaranteed his future beyond the Villa match.

“No, I’ve just carried on as absolute normal,” Carrick told reporters.

United are 18th in the Premier League and have won once in their last ten matches across all competitions, a run they interrupted on Tuesday with a 3-2 Champions League comeback against Roma. Sunday’s fixture is the next test.

The recruitment work behind him has not slowed. Yardbarker reports that Nagida has been added to a five-man list that also features Barcelona’s Alejandro Balde, RB Leipzig’s David Raum, Club Brugge’s Joaquin Seys and Bournemouth’s Adrien Truffert, with sporting director Jason Wilcox and recruitment chief Christopher Vivell leading the search.

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A left-back room emptied by injury

The hunt is a response to a position that has fallen apart. Luke Shaw was injured in the 10 October fixture against Tottenham and has not returned, forcing Noussair Mazraoui, Ayden Heaven and Diogo Dalot to cover on the left of defence.

The Nuno Mendes comparison

Nagida’s profile is the draw. He has drawn comparisons with Paris Saint-Germain’s Portugal international Nuno Mendes, with former Rennes coach Frédéric Antonetti pointing to his speed and ability to be decisive going forward while stressing that Mendes operates at a higher level.

Manchester United scouts watched Nagida over six weeks, including both of Rennes’ Europa League fixtures against Juventus and Olympiacos. He has scored once and provided two assists in 13 appearances this season, and he was part of Cameroon’s squad at the last Africa Cup of Nations.

The price and the catch

Transfermarkt values Nagida at €10m (£8.4m), making him one of the cheaper names on the list. The complication is his contract: Nagida signed an extension in September 2025 that ties him to Rennes until 2029, so any January move would need to clear a premium well above the Transfermarkt figure.

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Manchester United play Aston Villa on Sunday.

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