Michael Carrick said Manchester United are “hungry” to complete Project 150 by winning the Premier League in the next couple of years.
In September 2024, chief executive Omar Berrada launched “Project 150”, the club’s bid to become champions again by 2028, the year of their 150th anniversary.
United then only finished 15th under former manager Ruben Amorim last season but they have been on the up again under Carrick and are on course to qualify for the Champions League.
And while Carrick is not going to get carried away by his fine start and believes United have to focus on more immediate targets, he would love to see them realise those ambitions.
“You’ve got take step by a step, I think,” he said. “Certainly we want to keep improving and we want to keep moving up the table. I’ve said that sat here and said that before. At the moment, being around where we are, it’s an exciting time because we’ve got something to play for. We would love to be playing for something a little bit more, that little bit higher and really challenging for leagues.
“There’s no way you can just say it’s going to happen and assume it’s going to happen. There’s a lot of work that needs to go into that and a lot of things that need to be put in players to achieve that.
“It’s tough to win the Premier League and we understand that, but certainly we are definitely working towards it, we feel that’s where we want to be. We have been in the past and we want to get there again, but it’s certainly just not straightforward and I think we all understand that, but we’re certainly hungry to do it.”
United face rivals for Champions League qualification, in Aston Villa, on Sunday. While fifth place is almost certain to be enough for a return to the European elite, Carrick is not fixating on the league table now.
“It’s literally game by game, and trying to win,” he said. “It sounds really obvious, but you can’t plan for if you finish fourth or fifth, really. You’re going to the next game, we’re all in on this game.”
English clubs had poor results in Europe this midweek but the Uefa coefficient still positions them to get five Champions League spots next season.
And Carrick added: “There needs to be quite a big swing for it to not be fifth, but ultimately, that’s not something that we can control and ideally, we’d like to be fighting above that anyway.”
