Neville: 'It's a two-year job to turn that squad into one that can win the title'
Tuesday 9 April 2019 15:01, UK
With a big summer of change predicted at Manchester United, Gary Neville - speaking on Monday Night Football - questions whether the club have the correct people in place in their recruitment team to help Ole Gunnar Solskjaer get the right business done in order to get the club back to challenging for Premier League titles.
He needs big money unless they can cash in on someone who is worth big money - there's David de Gea and Paul Pogba, who is reportedly being courted by Real Madrid.
The two I'd be worried about are De Gea and Marcus Rashford. There's talk about both of them not signing a new deal but I think Rashford will sign, that's not in doubt.
They will have to throw money at it. However, it's not as bad as everyone makes out.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's job is to coach the team. He identifies which players he wants and the club gets the maximum value for the players going out and they bring in the right players.
It's a turf war out there: agents, recruitment guys, consultants and clubs like Real Madrid are looking to rebuild and invest heavily. To get four or five players that you want and get the four or five you want out is a big, big job.
My concern is for Ole is: who is going to do this for him?
That person might be there already but it's a bit of an abyss in terms of the recruitment side of things.
I don't know who at the club could navigate the job that needs to be done to put Manchester United into championship territory. It's a two-year job to turn that squad into one that can win the title. I don't think they'll get everyone in they want and I don't think they'll get the ones out - it will take two years and plenty of patience.
The noise coming out of Manchester United is that they will go back to their principles in signing the players that are about to hit their best. The ones that have the ability to be the best in the world. That's the right approach.
What the club have done over the last few years will need some unravelling. It will need some unpicking - that's Ole's main job. If the club are going back to the days of pace, power and counter-attacking, then they will have to adapt the current squad but it will take some time and work from someone that is qualified to do it.
Juan Mata and Ander Herrera are interesting ones. They are great professionals but it wouldn't be the end of the world if they both left. On the other hand, with Herrera, he would be a loss.
If you've got four or five central midfielders you don't need them all to be A1 - you need players that can come in and do a good job. Herrera does a good job and has been a great servant to the club, as has Juan Mata. They would be losses in some sense but I don't think it's the end of the world if they move on.
