Solskjaer won’t spend in January sales
MANCHESTER UNITED are preparing to keep their money banked in the January transfer window.
And boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has hinted he may only do loan deals if he does recruit – rather than splash cash on players who aren’t top-priority targets.
Executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward has admitted United suffered earlier this season when France striker Anthony Martial missed seven weeks with a thigh injury. United won just one of the five Premier League games the Frenchman was absent for as the £73million summer sale of Romelu Lukaku to Inter Milan backfired.
But although United have a hefty £100m January war chest, it seems they won’t be rushed into signings with Solskjaer revealing he isn’t interested in short-fix solutions.
“It is not about X amount of money we have to spend
persevere with the Brazilian, 26, after a poor debut season.
“First of all, the price tag is none of Fred’s concern and it shouldn’t be because that is just how football has gone. That shouldn’t be on Fred, that should be on us,” said Solskjaer.
“Fred’s now showing what we saw in him. He’s more confident. He believes in himself.
“He has come to a new country, the biggest club in the world and is speaking good English now.
“You can see him in training and he’s happy. He’s married with a kid. I think he is finding his feet and enjoying himself.
“He has both creativity and tenacity and he’s shown in the last few games what his strengths are.”
Despite being off the top-four pace, Solskjaer has not given up on the Champions League. “I don’t
– it is about who do we think will be good for the club in the long term, not just three or four months,” said the United manager.
“The targets we have are probably not available in January.
“Maybe one or two could be a loan deal but that is not a big-money thing, it is to help the team. But
agree the top four won’t change. We’ve put ourselves in a difficult position but then if you look at the games we’ve done well in, we’ve beaten Chelsea twice, beaten Leicester, drawn against Arsenal and Liverpool.
“We just need to improve on games where teams give us a different challenge. We have lost games we have dominated but haven’t found the openings.
“Now Anthony Martial is coming back, if we keep him fit it gives us a big chance to claw back points. If we get consistency of performances we’ll move up the table.” we are getting players back and looking at what is available.”
United are again linked with Juventus forward Mario Mandzukic, 33 – a target in August. The Croat has not played a single minute this season for the Italian giants.