After successfully steering the Red Devils into the Champions League once he'd taken over from Ruben Amorim, Carrick might've thought that a successful summer in the transfer window would've set United up nicely for the current campaign.
Poor recruitment from United
Unfortunately, the captures of an ageing Youri Tielemans, a player in Andrey Santos who still needs to prove he has what it takes at the highest level, and Carlos Baleba, who was injured until recently, couldn't really be said to be what United needed.
Fast forward nine league games, and the Red Devils have won just once and are sat fourth from the bottom, with none of the new signings really making the desired impact.
Indeed, one could question the recruitment of those players, when it was fairly clear to all that other areas of the squad needed more urgent consideration.
Benjamin Sesko's injury in September came just too late for the club to source a replacement, but with the Slovenian out for an unspecified period of time, January can't come soon enough.
Is Guirassy the answer to United's prayers?
It's been reported that United have recently scouted four Borussia Dortmund players, with most interest being directed towards Serhou Guirassy.
The 30-year-old continues to defy logic, given his advancing years, and with 68 goals and 15 assists in the last three seasons, he clearly still knows where the goal is.
An entirely different type of striker to Bryan Mbeumo, there's every reason to believe that he'd be a solid addition as a Sesko replacement, or indeed, just as another squad member.
Aside from his goals and assists, there's his awkwardness and pace for opposition defences to have to deal with.
Superb figures in 2026/27
In the current season alone, he's already contested 67 aerial duels and won 33 of them, both figures being a squad best, whilst he's also contested 114 ground one-on-ones; only Waldemar Anton (43) has more.
Six fast breaks are unsurprisingly the most in the Dortmund squad, whilst a 58.82% shot accuracy is right up there in the top bracket.
Those colleagues with a higher output in terms of results in this metric haven't taken anywhere near as many shots as Guirassy's 41 (Fabio Silva is next on 26), so the comparison could still be said to be in the striker's favour.
The only player with more than one brace in 26/27, the French-Guinean has also had the most headed attempts at goal (12) and created the most big chances (14).
A 77.12% pass completion rate isn't the best, but most centre-forwards generally find that their accuracy in passing is somewhat less successful than their colleagues.
Ultimately, such players are brought in to score goals, and that's something which is Guirassy's bread and butter.
Whether such a hire could be said to be counterproductive is an interesting discussion point.
Short-term option?
United simply can't afford to get it wrong in the transfer window again, though it's clear that they need a natural goalscorer in the squad.
Whilst it's true that Guirassy could only really be considered as a semi-short-term option, his purchase would at least give Sesko some time to get back to his best both physically and mentally.
Not only that, but Sesko could likely learn something from a more experienced contemporary in terms of movement and finishing, which would be a win-win from United's point of view.
It would also afford Michael Carrick, or whoever replaces him should he be sacked before January, an excellent squad rotation option when required.
Of course, a deal is a long, long way from being concluded, and with Guirassy's Dortmund contract not due to expire until the summer of 2028, the Bundesliga outfit has little need to sell at this point.
From the player's own perspective, would he want to swap playing for a team that is already challenging for the top spot in the Bundesliga - Dortmund are currently unbeaten and joint top with Bayern Munich - for a potential relegation battle in the Premier League?
The English top flight has always been thought of as the best in the world, and that has to have cachet with players; however, cachet is the one thing that Man Utd don't have at the moment, and may well be the issue that stops Guirassy from signing on the dotted line.