IT WOULD COST £1BILLION TO SORT THIS SQUAD OUT

HOW much would Manchester United have to spend to stand a chance of competing with Manchester City and Liverpool? I came to the conclusion it would take more than a billion pounds. Seriously. With Paul Pogba out injured, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer fielded a midfield two of Scott McTominay and Nemanja Matic at West Ham. I’m not sure that is even top-10 worthy. In attack, they had Andreas Pereira, Juan Mata and Daniel James behind Marcus Rashford. Mata has been a fantastic footballer over the years but he is a passenger at No 10 now. Pereira and James are development players. The latter in particular has potential but at 21 and being so new to the Premier League, he is bound to be inconsistent. After failing to replace Romelu Lukaku, there is pressure on Anthony Martial and Rashford. Martial’s best season was when he scored 11 goals in the top flight in 2015-16. Rashford’s best was 10 last season and he was forced off injured yesterday. To compete for the big trophies you need big players and United don’t have those. What’s the solution to all this? I don’t think it is to sack Solskjaer. I’m not saying he is carrying it out well, but at least he has a plan. He is developing younger players, partly because he has no choice. If you chopped off his head, what then? Bring in Massimiliano Allegri, who will take the club in a completely different direction and want to spend big? Try to get Mauricio Pochettino who, like Allegri, would also want to see the cash splashed? Can United afford to spend more than half-a-billion pounds in a bid to become top-four competitors again? It didn’t work with Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho. I’m not sure ripping up the manual and appointing a new manager is the answer.