OF THE RED Solskjaer admits he must stick to a tighter budget
OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER has revealed Manchester United cannot afford to get it wrong in t he t r ansfer market after expensive mistakes in the past.
United have been under the spotlight for failing to fork out the eye-watering
£108million Borussia Dortmund are demanding for their England star Jadon Sancho – with the transfer window slamming shut tomorrow.
But after seeing big-money arrivals Alexis Sanchez, Romelu Lukaku and
£89m record signing Paul Pogba fall short, Solskjaer insists that these days the Red Devils have to get it right when they splash the cash.
Admitting he is paying a price for past failures, Solskjaer said: “It does come into it because when you sign players you need to go into a thorough process to make sure every player that comes in is the right one for the club.
“It’s easy to pick out the best players in the world. Every club knows them.
“Th e p r o c e s s in recruitment and scouting is vital – you need to make sure that when you invest money it is well spent.
“I think the process – and the people we have involved to monitor and to identify players – are doing a good job.
“When I came in, my view was that we had to give young players a chance, that we had to see if we could find something in our own ranks – and that has worked well. We’ve also lost a few good players who have gone on to do well at other clubs but we felt that moving forward we wanted to go in a different direction.
“I don’t want to talk about names who didn’t have a successful career at Manchester United before moving on because there are different reasons for people not being a success at the club.
“But yes, we have to be very thorough and very sure when we put big money down for players. They have to be right for the future, for now, for the group that is already here.
“It’s more complex and a bigger operation than just pointing a finger at a player and saying, ‘He’s got the quality’.”
United have had a quiet window so far after only adding £39m Ajax midfielder Donny van de Beek to their squad.
But despite persistent calls from fans for a director of football, Solskjaer claims he is happy with the set-up with Ed Woodward in overall control of deals.
United were recently criticised by f amed Sevilla s port i n g d i r ector Monchi for not having a dedicated transfer expert. But Solskajer is adamant there are “good people” working behind the scenes at Old Trafford.
“There are always people who want to talk about how well they’re running things and how well they’re doing,” he said.
“There are always discussions behind the scenes, which people don’t know about, around how we’re doing things.
“It’s a process the club is going through all the time, to ask if we’ve got the right people in the right positions.”
Solskjaer has been under pressure from fans to invest in a centre-back to partner Harry Maguire after a shaky start to the season from Victor Lindelof. But the Norwegian boss believes Ivorian star Eric Bailly, 26, (below) could save the club millions – if he stays fit. He said: “Eric started the season later than the others and has had to catch up but he’s performed well in the last two games he’s played. “We know his playing style – he puts his body on the line all the time. “But he’s getting more and more experienced and I hope that we can keep Eric fit because since February he has looked really strong after the bad injury he had last summer.”