UNITED CANNOT SHOOT FOR THE STARS

ON THE subject of Manchester United, I reckon they’re going through a period which is a bit like the situation we were in at Liverpool during a lot of my time there.

They’re a huge name still, but they’re just behind the top teams… and that means they can’t readily attract the top players if their rivals want them.

I think we saw that with Darwin Nunez, who wanted to play in the Champions League. And I think we’ve got a stark example of it with Christian Eriksen (top). I’m reading he’s been offered £150,000 a week and is still undecided whether to go there.

For a player who always had United in the way of the biggest honours we were chasing, that seems barmy. A top player is undecided on whether to go to Old Trafford or Brentford!

That’s the cycle of football. United are going to take some time to get sorted, even if Erik ten Hag (above) is a success.

You don’t turn that team around in a single season – because there’s so much wrong.

Like my Liverpool team in the late 90s, they are always those ‘two or three players away’ from being truly competitive.

We were always a centre-half away, then a central midfielder away. And the problem you face, when other clubs are winning the big trophies, is that player or those players don’t want to come.

I don’t how true any of these were, but I’ll give you some examples. We were supposed to be in for Teddy Sheringham as a partner for me, but he went to United. We were supposed to be in for Marcel Desailly, but he went to Chelsea.

Looking back on it now, history tells us they were absolutely right in their decisions. But imagine the difference they would have made.

Players will want to go to City, Liverpool, Chelsea or Spurs right now – not United. And the only way to counter that is to get creative in the transfer market.

I know it sounds daft, but City didn’t always go out and buy the most expensive players. They bought young players with lots of promise – and developed them under Pep Guardiola.

Same with Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool.

Mo Salah and Sadio Mane weren’t worldclass stars, they were turned into elite players. And Klopp resisted the temptation to buy older players with topclass experience who were past their best.

That’s where Ten Hag is and that is what he has to do. He can’t repeat the mistakes they’ve made so often of going for ‘names’.

He has to build a team, a young team, and develop them.

That is the only way to get back to the top.