Wayne Rooney urges Michael Carrick to make Man Utd transfer demand ahead of deadline day

Wayne Rooney has warned Michael Carrick he will end up ‘paying the price’ if Manchester United relent from making any further signings.

The transfer window closes on Tuesday with United still appearing to have several glaring weaknesses in their squad to address.

Sunday’s 5-2 win over Ipswich Town helped rebuild momentum after United’s opening weekend setback against Hull, but Rooney fears that victory could end up papering over obvious cracks.

United’s recruitment efforts this summer have largely focused on rebuilding their midfield engine room with Andrey Santos, Carlos Baleba and Youri Tielemans all having joined in the wake of Casemiro’s departure and Manuel Ugarte’s serious injury.

Defensively, and particularly at full-back, United look vulnerable with Luke Shaw given the runaround by Ipswich winger Fatawu Issahaku, while Rooney also has concerns with his old club’s forward line.

Indeed, United’s record goalscorer believes the onus should be on Carrick to apply pressure and ensure United’s key decision maker arm him with the tools he requires.

Rooney told the United Stand: ‘I hope the game doesn’t hide that, or hide behind today’s result and say they’re OK. We’ve won this game 5-2 and everything is rosy.

‘Michael’s got to and push. The next two days he’s got to go in, he’s got to be banging on the door saying I need more players, players to improve the squad, improve the starting XI. If you give us these players it might be the difference between winning a trophy or finishing in the top four.

‘I think he has to be strong and really push for that, if we don’t I think we saw Mazraoui not doing to well when he came on either, we could end up paying the price.

‘They’ll have ideas and constant conversations which will be going on and there will be a list of players who are there.

‘Listen, I think it’s important you don’t just go and buy anyone for the sake of it.

‘I know I’m saying there he has to go and try and get more players and put pressure on them to do that, but I think it’s important they don’t just waste money on someone who isn’t good enough.

‘If the right one isn’t there I get you need to be a bit patient and trust the players you’ve got.’

Pressed on which areas of the team United needed to strengthen in, Rooney added: For me it’s goals.

‘Obviously we got goals against Ipswich but I don’t think you can rely on Bruno to be getting 20 goals and 20 assists.

‘Mbeumo gets goals but I can’t see him getting him or Cunha getting 15 to 20 goals. He needs someone who will get 20 to 30 goals.

‘You need that forward that if he’s fit he’s playing week in and week out and then have players on the bench who are hungry, I still think we haven’t got that No.9.

‘I know there’s not many out there but hopefully we can pull something out of the bag.’

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