Michael Carrick said “never say never” about a potential Manchester United signing before Monday’s transfer deadline, following the setback of Patrick Dorgu’s hamstring injury. Dorgu had been delivering impressive performances for United, featuring as a starter in the last two matches on the left flank and finding the net against both Manchester City and Arsenal.

However, the Danish international now faces a couple of weeks on the sidelines after sustaining the injury at the Emirates. Throughout January, United have maintained their stance that they would only pursue players who fit their long-term recruitment strategy, and whilst the likelihood appeared to be diminishing, Carrick indicated that discussions regarding potential additions were ongoing.

“We’re just working through it,” he said. “Never say never because a lot can happen and situations can be thrown up, sometimes it’s in our control and sometimes it’s not.”

“We’re calm, we’ve shown what we’re capable of doing as a team. We’ll see what the next few days brings.”

Carrick downplayed speculation surrounding departures, with Joshua Zirkzee now recovered from injury despite attracting loan enquiries this month, though he acknowledged that losing an in-form player like Dorgu was a setback.

“It’s not ideal, of course it’s not, we don’t want to lose good players from the group,” said Carrick. “That is part of having a squad and assembling a squad. We’ve got players who can do that, it’s the nature of the beast, unfortunately.”

Carrick also addressed the future of Bruno Fernandes, adding: “I have seen the impact as soon as I got here. I was obviously here so I saw him in close quarters. He had a huge impact straightaway and in so many ways. You could see the passion, you could see how much he wanted to do well. Straightaway you could see the quality and that has carried on all the way through.

“His consistency of performances and level of performances, his willingness to always put himself out there and being physically capable to do it. There is a lot to credit him for, in that respect. Of course, we all want to win things, we all want to get better and to improve as a team, we want to be successful and that is something we want to work towards together but Bruno has been fantastic since I have been here, he was fantastic when I was here before. Nothing but good things to say about him.

“Let’s not get too far ahead. We are working towards this game and we are talking about the window now and it is closing in a few days. That is on the agenda a little bit but my main agenda is getting through the game with Fulham on Sunday and Bruno is fully committed. No issues at all with that. Things further down the line will be addressed towards the end of the season. Everything is positive at the moment and there is no reason to be anything otherwise.”