...BUT OLE MUST SEAL SEAT WITH ELITE TO SHOW PROGRESSION

OLE GUNNAR Solskjaer always thought it would come to this: a final-day showdown with Leicester City at the King Power Stadium tomorrow for a place in the Champions League. A crucial factor is that Manchester United only need one point rather than three to guarantee a seat at European football’s top table. Depending on Chelsea’s fortunes, defeat for United could mean another season in the Europa League at an overall cost to the club and their players of about £70million. Even so, Solskjaer says his team will go for victory instead of relying on the fragile security of a draw. ‘We wanted to get to this position of having to go to Leicester to beat them and we’re not going to change our approach,’ said the United manager. ‘We want to dominate the game. We want to go there and try to win. ‘It’s not job done. Focus is vital in football. One lapse of concentration can hurt you. ‘We’ve given ourselves a good chance of the Champions League next season but we can’t go in thinking about the outcome.’ A return to Europe’s premier competition is vital to United, not least for the stature of a club who have been absent from it in three of the seven years since Sir Alex Ferguson retired. For Solskjaer, it would be tangible proof of the progress he is making at the end of a season that saw United in 14th position in October. They have been the form team since before lockdown and are on a run of 13 games unbeaten in the league. The Champions League is the next stage in the evolution of a team and manager who still have some way to go to close the gap to Liverpool and Manchester City. ‘We’ve not ended up anywhere yet,’ added Solskjaer (right). ‘There’s one more game to show we’ve become a better team, and if we get a result against Leicester this journey has been a good one. But this is not the end of the journey. There are two teams too far ahead of us. We have to step it up even more.’ Champions League football would be an important selling point to transfer targets in the coming months, particularly Jadon Sancho who is already guaranteed that perk if he decides to stay at Borussia Dortmund. Then, of course, there’s the money. Experts estimate the difference of United being in the Champions League rather than the Europa League is £50m, primarily through broadcast revenue. However, the players would foot more than half of that bill due to the pay-cut clauses built into their contracts for failing to qualify for the Champions League. For instance, United paid £30m less in wages when they were in the Europa League in the 2016-17 season compared to the following campaign. A second successive season out of the Champions League would trigger a penalty in United’s £75m-a-year sponsorship with adidas, reducing the figure by £22.5m — although the deduction would be spread over the remaining five years of the deal at a cost of £4.5m a year. It could also play a part in negotiations over a new shirt sponsor as United’s £450m deal with Chevrolet runs out at the end of next season. If events go against United tomorrow, Solskjaer knows they would still have a chance to qualify by winning the Europa League next month but he would rather not have to rely on that. ‘Having been so far behind when lockdown came, we had to go for it — go for goals and go for points,’ he said. ‘It’s been a great effort by everyone to get into this position with one game to go.’