Man Utd told to ‘get rid’ of £74.5m duo and sign Cole Palmer as Chelsea star ‘could be tempted’ | OneFootball

Manchester United have been encouraged to “get rid” of two forwards and sign Cole Palmer from Chelsea this summer.

With the help of Michael Carrick, Man Utd‘s season turned around in the second half of the 2025/26 campaign, with the Premier League giants securing Champions League qualification.

Carrick did a great job of getting the best out of the players at his disposal, though they will no doubt be active in this summer’s transfer window to bolster their squad.

Champions League qualification will boost their budget, but they will also inevitably look to sanction several big-money exits to increase their chances of securing top targets.

And former England international Chris Waddle thinks Joshua Zirkzee, who joined United for around £36.5m, should follow Rasmus Hojlund in leaving ahead of the latter’s permanent move to Napoli for around £38m.

Waddle also thinks Man Utd should use these funds to sign Palmer from Chelsea after it was reported that he ‘could be tempted’ to leave this summer.

“Looking at Manchester United, Casemiro is going, they’ve got to get rid of Joshua Zirkzee, Rasmus Hojlund has to be moved on,” Waddle told BoyleSports.

“There’s another five or six players they need to get off the wage bill to allow Carrick to bring in players that he thinks will do the job.

“If that frees up the money to go and get people like Cole Palmer and get them really working on the ball and doing what we know they can do in possession then he could become a great player again.”

Man Utd face a tougher 2026/27 campaign as they look to juggle several competitions, and Waddle has explained his main “concern” with Carrick’s side heading into next season.

“With the team that Michael Carrick has got at the moment, the results have surprised me, but if he’s allowed to bring in the players he needs then there’s no reason why they can’t achieve top four again next season,” Waddle added.

“I like Michael Carrick and I think he’s done a good job but my one concern about Manchester United is that I don’t think he has got the players and needs to make some acquisitions this summer, to be perfectly honest.

“He’s got them working for each other again but there’s a few aging players in that squad and the problem is when I watch their games, they never look in control of teams.

“They play very compact and look to hit teams on the break but when they play against teams like Brighton or even Wolves they don’t dominate the game. If you let the other team create chances, eventually they will score those chances.

“We don’t know what they will do this summer. They could bring in three or four players who are all a big hit but it’s Manchester United. They will be linked with every Tom, Dick and Harry. We know that.”