Man Utd icon Paul Scholes is ‘pretty sure’ Ineos already had solutions to Andrey Santos and Carlos Baleba

Paul Scholes has argued that Ineos did not need to blow most of the Manchester United summer budget on the midfield signings of Andrey Santos and Carlos Baleba.

Andrey Santos became the first major signing of the Michael Carrick era after the Red Devils landed him in a deal worth £50m from Premier League side Chelsea.

Manchester United paid an initial fee of £48m and agreed to a further £2m in add-ons to bring the 22-year-old Brazil international to Old Trafford in July.

Ineos turned their attention to Carlos Baleba in August and Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s regime signed the 22-year-old Cameroonian talent from Brighton in a deal worth £70m.

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Paul Scholes claims that Man Utd’s academy could have been the answer to Andrey Santos and Carlos Baleba

Manchester United paid an initial £65m fee for Carlos Baleba and agreed a further £5m in add-ons. Baleba missed the opening months of the 2026-27 campaign at Old Trafford after he arrived at the Premier League club carrying a pre-season injury.

Either side of the Andrey Santos and Baleba signings was the acquisition of Youri Tielemans, who was snapped up from Aston Villa after his £35m release clause was triggered. Youri Tielemans, Santos and Baleba made up the core of Ineos’ summer spending spree, as the rebuild of the United first-team’s midfield was a top priority.

Speaking on his podcast, Paul Scholes bemoaned Ineos’ transfer approach in the summer for not bringing in any further reinforcements to the defence. The 51-year-old United legend even made the argument that there might be talent in the youth academy who could have done what Baleba and Santos were brought in to do at the club.

“But to leave that defence the way it is and then to bring players of… I’m pretty sure you have kids in the academy who can do what Andrey Santos can do,” Scholes said on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast.

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Man Utd’s famed ‘Class of ‘92’ star added: “I’m pretty sure you [have a] kid in the academy who can do what Baleba will do. And do you know what? The fans probably prefer that.

“Why waste your 50, 60, 70 million quid when you can bring a young kid in? Now, look, I get it. If you go into Elliot Anderson [for] 100-odd million, yeah, because these are proven top-class players in the Premier League.

“You go back to Declan Rice and Harry Kane and all them types of players. Yeah. But to just fill spaces for the sake of it, I think they did.”

Michael Carrick has been left short at left-back due to the injury concerns around Luke Shaw and in the forward role because of the absence of Benjamin Sesko. The 45-year-old United manager has been forced to alternate his players heavily to make up for the lack of squad depth in key positions on the pitch.