With Champions League commitments to add to their domestic campaign, the Red Devils need to ensure that they have appropriate cover in all areas.
When all of their players are fit and available for selection, the club are well stocked in defence, and now that Benjamin Sesko has found his feet at Old Trafford, Michael Carrick can be satisfied with the options that he has up front.
Camavinga could be the missing piece of the midfield jigsaw
Perhaps the one area of the squad that needs the most attention is in midfield, with Casemiro having departed for Inter Miami, and Manuel Ugarte unlikely to be available until the back end of the forthcoming campaign.
News that Bruno Fernandes is likely to exercise the 12-month extension to his current deal will come as a real boost ahead of the 2026/27 season, though Carrick will surely be keen to ensure that he has more to celebrate.
To that end, reports suggest that United are in the hunt for Real Madrid ace Eduardo Camavinga, who is, apparently, no longer considered untouchable by Los Blancos, and who was overlooked by France for their World Cup squad.
Didier Deschamps' reasoning was that the 23-year-old had a "difficult season" in Madrid, which included missing games through injury.
Rather than stew over that decision for the entire summer, to Camavinga's credit, he enrolled on a short course in the business of entertainment, media and sports at Harvard Business School.
Whilst that may have taken his mind off the disappointment for a while, now that pre-season has begun in earnest, and Jose Mourinho has taken the helm at the Santiago Bernabeu, Camavinga could find his days in Madrid numbered.
It would appear that he's unwilling to consider leaving the club at present, and such an admirable stance is only to be expected, but as we've seen so many times before, if a club wants a player to leave or vice versa, the move will eventually happen by hook or by crook.
United need to tread carefully
Let's not fool ourselves either. All the "not for sale" noise and otherwise that generally accompanies some high-profile transfers is all to engineer things to such a point where fan ire has subsided enough to get the deal through.
In Camavinga's case, there's unlikely to be too much backlash from the Los Blancos faithful, and it's easy to understand why, which is the reason that United need to be careful if they intend to make a move for his services.
Although Camavinga made 43 appearances for Real during the 2025/26 season, only 23 were as a starter. Indeed, a cumulative 2,198 minutes on the pitch was well down on a number of his colleagues, some of whom broke through the 4,000-minute mark.
Only seven of those appearances were for the full 90 minutes, and nine more games were missed because of injuries.
Two goals and one assist in all competitions won't win him any plaudits, and while making an impact in front of goal has never been his forte and so shouldn't really be used as a yardstick, United would surely want him to contribute in those areas.
Mixed numbers
A 62.54% one-on-one success was the second-best return out of every Real outfield player last season, though his 283 attempted duels were less than half of Vinicius Jr's 574.
131 ball recoveries were also just the seventh-best showing in the squad.
Notwithstanding his lack of minutes, given his position in the team, Camavinga has to be getting more involved in this side of the game, particularly if he isn't contributing in an attacking sense.
Making only 19 interceptions during the season is another poor return, but at least his 93 tackles attempted saw him at the top of the pile along with Aurelien Tchouameni.
A gamble worth taking?
Camavinga's 58 tackles won were slightly more than the 56 successful tackles Tchouameni managed, and, taking into account the number of tackles made, Camavinga's 62.37% success could be considered the best in the squad, even if, for example, Dani Carvajal recorded 76.47% - because he attempted only 17 tackles overall.
His passing range also redresses the balance somewhat, too, and at 91.78%, it could prove to be one of the missing ingredients Man Utd have needed when building attacks.
Although it's clear Camavinga is far from the finished article, there's certainly scope for improvement given his age, and if he can remain relatively injury-free, his signing might be a gamble United consider taking.