Manchester United have spent £219.7m on eight defenders since the summer of 2022, yet the back four that starts against Hull City this weekend could be identical to the one that opened the season four years ago.
Back on 7 August 2022, Erik ten Hag picked Lisandro Martinez - a £56.7m signing that summer - alongside Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw and Diogo Dalot for the opening-day trip that ended in a 2-1 defeat to Brighton.
Fast forward to 2026, and Michael Carrick has already gone back to that same quartet six times across his 17 Premier League matches in charge. He may do so again this weekend when United travel to face Hull City.
According to the Premier League's official fixture schedule, kick-off at the MKM Stadium is set for 12:30 BST on Saturday 22 August, marking the start of Carrick's first full campaign at the helm as confirmed by BBC Sport.
Reports from talkSPORT in mid-August suggested Shaw and Dalot are expected to line up as the starting full-backs for the opener, hinting that Carrick may indeed lean on the same wide pairing that has served him before.
Despite four years of upheaval at Old Trafford, this back-line quartet has somehow endured - though not without plenty of interruptions along the way.
Martinez, Maguire, Shaw and Dalot have actually only started together on 10 occasions across those four years, and 60 per cent of those appearances have come under Carrick alone.
Their first two outings together both ended in defeat, including a particularly brutal 4-0 loss to Brentford. After that setback, the same back four did not reappear until 30 October 2022, when United beat West Ham 1-0.
In between, Tyrell Malacia - a fellow arrival that summer - along with Raphael Varane and Victor Lindelof were rotated in and out to make up the defence alongside various combinations of the other four.
Maguire found himself frequently benched in the early months of that 2022/23 campaign and also missed a month with a hamstring problem.
That same season also saw both Martinez and Dalot sidelined by assorted injuries, though Dalot's fitness record has been relatively kind to him since.
The story has been very different for Martinez and Shaw. The Argentine defender missed most of the first half of the 2023/24 season with a foot injury before rupturing his ACL in February 2025, only returning to action in November after nine months on the sidelines.
Meanwhile, according to a pre-season fitness update, Martinez should be available for the start of this campaign, though Matthijs de Ligt - who underwent back surgery - was expected to need considerably longer to return.
Shaw has also been a regular fixture on the treatment table, managing just 27 appearances across all competitions combined over the 2023/24 and 2024/25 seasons.
The summer of 2024 brought further defensive reshuffling as Varane and Aaron Wan-Bissaka departed, replaced by three new arrivals - Leny Yoro, Noussair Mazraoui and Matthijs de Ligt - with Ayden Heaven and Patrick Dorgu following in January 2025.
Even with those additions, settled consistency remained elusive, not helped by a managerial change midway through that season.
Ten Hag left his post in October 2024 and was replaced by Ruben Amorim, who lasted just 14 months without ever once fielding the Martinez, Maguire, Shaw and Dalot combination.
Amorim was famously committed to a 3-4-3 system and resisted changing it for a long time, even as results at Old Trafford suffered. He finally switched to a back four in December 2025 against Newcastle, keeping his first clean sheet since early October in the process.
Barely two weeks after that tactical U-turn, Amorim departed the club - reportedly unhappy at having been forced into the change - paving the way for Carrick's arrival.
In his very first match in charge, Carrick turned straight to Martinez, Maguire, Shaw and Dalot as United beat Manchester City 2-0. He went on to select that same back four in five further matches, and United did not lose in any of them (W5, D1).
However, only two clean sheets came from those six games, and three of the wins finished 3-2, underlining that defensive work remains a priority under the new head coach.
De Ligt's absence has also been a significant factor. He has not featured since November 2025 because of his back problem - meaning he has never actually been available to Carrick - though he returned to first-team training this week.
There have been no major defensive signings since Dorgu arrived 18 months ago. Malacia left this summer, while Lindelof and Jonny Evans both departed last year. Should Carrick continue with the approach he has established over the past six months, further defensive reinforcement may well be necessary.
Squad plans and transfer context
United's defensive planning sits alongside wider squad business this summer, with the club weighing up a move for Aurelien Tchouameni while also deciding Marcus Rashford's future as Carrick shapes his squad for the season ahead.
Carrick himself dropped hints about the club's summer transfer strategy following a 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid in Sweden, with Joshua Zirkzee and Altay Bayindir among those whose futures remain uncertain.
Complicating matters further, United face restrictions under Premier League squad rules that could limit them to just two more non-homegrown signings, potentially forcing sales before any fresh defensive additions can be made.
Since Carrick took over, United have leaned heavily on a compact, deep-lying defensive block, sitting close to their own box and staying extremely difficult to break down - a foundation that underpinned some notable victories.
Pre-season form, though, has hinted at an evolution of that approach. United have been pushing higher up the pitch and pressing more aggressively, working hard to win the ball back quickly after losing possession.
That shift was exposed to some degree against Ruben Amorim's Milan in a pre-season friendly, where the press wasn't quite sharp enough - the fourth goal conceded came from a single ball played over a high defensive line.
That match served as a clear reminder of United's need for genuine investment at left-back. Shaw will require regular rotation given the extra fixtures that come with European competition, and while supporters would like to see Dorgu deployed there, Carrick has mostly used him as a left winger so far.
Dorgu could yet prove useful in helping United execute their preferred style, particularly given the recovery pace required in defence for the moments when the high-risk approach leaves them exposed.
Age is another consideration. Maguire and Shaw are both over 30, while Martinez is 28 and Dalot 27 - all technically in their prime, but the question remains whether they can adapt to yet another stylistic shift at the club.
What happens next
United's return to Premier League action comes against a Hull City side back in the top flight after a decade away, a storyline highlighted by Sky Sports as one of the more notable feel-good tales of the fixture list.
Kick-off at the MKM Stadium is scheduled for 12:30 BST on Saturday 22 August 2026, according to the Premier League's published schedule.
United's first home league game of the campaign follows a week later, with Ipswich Town visiting Old Trafford on 29 August 2026.
The two clubs are also due to meet again later in the season, with United hosting Hull at Old Trafford on 10 April, as confirmed in the same Premier League fixture release.
Ultimately, plenty has changed around Manchester United since 2022, but the defence remains a curious constant. Four years on, Martinez, Maguire, Shaw and Dalot are still a viable unit for Carrick to call upon - though just how much longer that will remain the case is far from certain.
