Manchester United's miserable start to the season continued as they drew 1-1 with Leeds United at Elland Road, to extend their winless run in the Premier League to five matches.

After seven games, Man United's only top flight win has come at home to newly-promoted Ipswich Town, while they have also lost two of the three matches in other competitions too.

The pressure is growing on Michael Carrick but he may well be satisfied with a draw in Yorkshire, given Leeds themselves have made a good start to the campaign and are a difficult team to beat on their own patch.

But if the Red Devils do have ambitions of repeating their third-place finish from last season, they need to be performing much better than they are right now.

United may have added three new central midfielders to their squad over the summer following the exit of Casemiro, but it's hard to argue that they don't look worse than they did last term on current form.

Yes, Carrick hasn't been helped by the off-pitch sagas involving JJ Gabriel and Lisandro Martinez in recent weeks, but his players simply aren't producing as they did in 2025-26, and he must take a portion of the blame for that.

Captain Bruno Fernandes had a remarkable season last time out as they picked up the Premier League assist record for a single campaign but, like many of his teammates, he looks a shadow of the player who was so good in a stunning first half of 2026 for the club.

All the Portugal international's four goals and one assist came in the two wins against Ipswich and Sabah, and his blank at Elland Road means he is now without a goal or assist in his last six appearances for United.

That is unthinkable form for a player who has been so crucial to the club for many seasons, and it's no surprise that there have been some calls for him to be dropped.

However, there is one player who is performing even worse than him right now in midfielder Andrey Santos.

United Should Have Spent Santos Money Elsewhere

There were a few eyebrows raised when United spent £50m to sign Santos from Chelsea in the summer, and those fears have been realised already from what we've seen from the Brazilian so far this season.

The 22-year-old started the opening day defeat against Hull City alongside Youri Tielemans, but while the Belgian has started every game since, Santos has only been named in the XI on four occasions.

He was part of the XI that surrendered a 2-0 lead at Old Trafford to lose 3-2 to Brighton and Hove Albion in the EFL Cup, and he failed to impress in the midweek defeat to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League either.

Santos was given another start alongside Carlos Baleba and Tielemans in midfield on Sunday, but he continues to show that not only does he not seem to be the answer to their midfield issues, but also that he currently isn't worth the £50m the club paid for him.

The Independent gave him a 5/10 rating after he failed to take control of the midfield, and it's hard not to think that money spent on him would have been better placed elsewhere given Carrick will soon have to pick from his new trio and Kobbie Mainoo, when the England international returns from injury.

While Bruno is in a bad spell right now, you know he is capable of that moment of magic, whereas Santos is offering nothing altogether given the role he was brought in to play.

United's defensive problems are well-publicised, and they surely would have been better off putting the £50m they spent on Santos towards a new defensive player or two instead.