The age of the galactico could be over at Reds
OLE Gunnar Solskjaer has hinted United could shift their transfer strategy away from the ‘superstar’ signings the club have made in recent years.
The Reds could move into the Premier League top four for the first time since the opening day of the season with victory at Fulham today, having been 11 points off the final Champions League qualifying spot upon Solskjaer’s caretaker appointment on December 19.
Solskjaer revealed earlier this month he is already planning for next season, regardless of who the next permanent United manager is, ahead of a testing period where United face Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Liverpool in the Champions League, FA Cup and Premier League.
Solskjaer has bullishly suggested United should challenge on all fronts next season but suggested they should not rely on the ‘superstar’ strategy that has compromised their dealings in the transfer market since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.
“I think it is about who we’ve got here as well,” Solskjaer said. “If every single player can improve by one or two per cent, it is not about X amount of players.
“It has to be the right one and one who fits, the personality has to fit with the team, it is not just buy a superstar and that will fix things and suddenly we go from challenging to being top four and be champions.”
United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward has broken the United transfer record four times with the arrivals of Juan Mata (£37.1m) and Angel di Maria (£59.7m) in 2014 and the return of Paul Pogba (£89m) in 2016.
Romelu Lukaku’s move could end up costing United £90m.
Alexis Sanchez also joined on exorbitant wages and United have had a mixed return from the starry quintet.
The £52m Fred, United’s fourthmost expensive addition, has not played in over a month.
The Reds are understood to be interested in signing a centre-half in the summer, with Napoli enforcer Kalidou Koulibaly, Internazionale’s Milan Skriniar and Joachim Andersen of Sampdoria all under consideration.
Solskjaer is still not certain of staying at United beyond the season’s end but has restored the fear factor at the club, having overseen eight successive victories before United were held to a draw by Burnley. Solskjaer admitted United’s sense of aura had been on his mind.
“You’ve got to ask the opposition,” he added. “We hope so but you’ve got to ask them. I’m not going to talk about how other teams feel.
“I was thinking about that the other day actually, because the amount of hours the analysis team, the coaches, us, we sit and watch the opposition for hours and hours and hours during the week.
“And I was thinking ‘What do teams look for when they play against us? What do they think about us now?’ But I’m not going to tell them to fear us, we don’t want them to fear us – we want them to lose!”