Carrick refuses to set title timeline despite Man Utd CEO's 2028 Premier League target

Michael Carrick has refused to commit to a specific timeframe for winning the Premier League, putting him at odds with Manchester United chief executive Omar Berrada, who has publicly targeted a title within the next two seasons as part of the club’s Project 150 ambitions.

United are already 12 points adrift of the pace-setters after just six league games this season, having won only two of their opening nine fixtures across all competitions and none of their last four in the Premier League.

“I think the goal, being at this football club, the goal is always to win,” Carrick said. “There’s no timeframe on that from my perspective. It’s as soon as we possibly can. And I think we understand we’re still making steps to get there.”

Berrada has been a driving force behind Project 150 — United’s stated ambition to win the league by 2028, the year of the club’s 150th anniversary — and reiterated that hope as recently as June. Carrick, however, was careful not to anchor himself to that deadline, acknowledging the scale of the task while framing the current difficulties as part of a necessary process.

“We’re trying to build to get to somewhere where we haven’t been for too long,” he added. “I know that, and sometimes you’ve got to go through different ways and different pathways to get to the top.”

United’s last Premier League title came in Sir Alex Ferguson’s final season in 2012-13 — a campaign in which Carrick himself played a key role. In the 13 years since, seven managers have come and gone without mounting a sustained title challenge.

Despite the poor early-season form, Carrick insisted he is energised rather than burdened by the pressure. “It’s the best job I could possibly have,” he said. “I feel a real privilege of being in this position and a real responsibility, but equally a drive of wanting to make a difference and having success here. I love the situation when actually you get a little bit of some sort of struggle where you’ve got to find a way out of it.”

United travel to Elland Road on Sunday to face Leeds, managed by Daniel Farke, whose side have lost just six of their last 31 league games. Carrick pushed back on the idea that the fixture was poorly timed for a team lacking confidence, saying he is looking forward to the challenge and is not seeking out the negativity that surrounds the club’s current run.