Carrick: Title's The Only Target

Michael Carrick insists his Manchester United team-mates are only interested in winning the Barclays Premier League title next season and will not settle for a mere top-four finish.

Despite missing out on the Champions League qualifying places this term, the midfielder says there hasn't been a readjusting of standards at Old Trafford and has dismissed the notion of celebrating anything other than first place.

Carrick also believes United’s future is bright after Academy graduates Tom Lawrence and James Wilson both made outstanding first-team debuts during Tuesday’s 3-1 win over Hull. While this is definitely a time of transition for the club, the 32-year-old is adamant that the expectations are still the same.

“Listen, this club moves forward all the time and we are always trying to bring players through, groom players and develop them,” Michael told ManUtd.com. “You could say this is the start of something else because there are going to be changes between now and next season.

“How much change, we will have to wait and see, but it is about getting strong, improving and coming back next year to fight on all fronts again. That is certainly what the aim is and we shouldn’t be aiming for anything less."

Expanding on his point, Carrick said: “There is no way we are settling for top four - that is not something we do here. We can’t celebrate getting into the top four, that’s not worth celebrating. We want to be challenging right at the top.

“I am not standing here and saying we are going to win the league next season, but that is what our goal is and anything less than that is not worth thinking about. Certainly, top four is not something that we will settle for.”

With just one fixture left to fulfil this season, attention will soon turn to the summer transfer window and Carrick acknowledges there will be plenty of activity at Old Trafford. However, the England international is unconvinced by reports of a complete overhaul.

“It is easy to say there will be wholesale changes because we obviously haven’t had a good season,” Michael explains. “If you look within the squad, there are some good players there.

“There probably needs to be some changes in some way because that is natural with the situation we are in at the moment, but you can’t change too much because it is hard. Bringing players in is tough enough and we will just have to wait and see how it pans out.”