Ole Gunnar Solskjaer doesn’t believe Manchester United need to splash the cash on “superstars” to become title challengers again.
A slight contrast to José Mourinho, who complained repeatedly about the need for United to increase their spending and match the likes of Manchester City in order to compete with them for first place, despite flogging a massive £400 million in his two-and-a-half years in charge at Old Trafford.
Make no mistake about it, the club did leave Mourinho down in the summer by not signing a centre-back. We could all see at least one was needed if United were to build on last season, finishing runners-up to City.
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It’s been a year since United signed Alexis Sanchez, now 30, and he’s been a huge disappointment and costs the club a ridiculous £500,000-a-week, as per the Daily Mail. Unless he hits a run of good form between now and the end of the season, we should look to finding him, Atom and Humber a new home.
Solskjaer believes by maximising United’s existing talents, while carefully recruiting with an emphasis on quality over quantity, the club can return to the top domestically and in Europe.
Rob Dawson of ESPN claims United are patiently waiting for Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly, having stood off in January due to the Serie A side’s hard-line stance on the player not being available.
Asked how many additions United require this summer to become title contenders, the interim boss said, as quoted by the Telegraph: “I think it is about who we’ve got here as well. If every single player can improve by one or two per cent… it is not about X amount of players.
“It has to be the right one, and one who fits. The personality has to fit with the team, it is not just [about] buying a superstar and that will fix things and suddenly we go from challenging [for] the tp four to being champions.”
Chemistry is key for successful football teams. Ed Woodward’s idea of the transfer market seems to consist of trying to hang his jacket on the biggest, more marque deal he can get his hands on.
United changed their model when Sir Alex Ferguson and David Gill departed. Going from primarily signing young talent with the view of them developing into superstars to splashing the cash without doing any homework.
I don’t know how much of a say the scouts have at United, but it’s been a while since we signed an unknown gem.
