Former England midfielder Steve McLaren has admitted that Manchester United need five more players to return back to winning ways and build a solid team for the future.
Despite showing some signs of improvement, Solskjaer is still facing strong criticism from the Old Trafford faithful as his United side has managed to win just nine of their 25 league games this campaign and are currently sitting eighth on the Premier League table.
McClaren was one of Sir Alex Ferguson’s assistants at Manchester United and the 58-year-old believes the current squad is lacking in ‘leaders’ but says Solskjaer can build the team with around five players in the summer.
While speaking to Sky Sports, the ex-England manager stated that there are too many inconsistent performances from the players at Manchester United and there need to be a few leaders in the dressing room that can add spine to the team, “The first job is to get the characters of leadership, or people who can become leaders, back in at Old Trafford, back on that training ground,”
McLaren went on to explain that United have a solid foundation with their back five and the club and board should bring in top players in midfield to build a stronger team which can fit well with the backline, “Because the inconsistency in performance is an inconsistency of training day-to-day, Monday to Friday, where you need leaders continuously, continuously setting standards. When I look at that back four, [David] De Gea, [Aaron] Wan-Bissaka was a tremendous signing, [Victor] Lindelof getting better, [Harry] Maguire perfect, [Luke] Shaw, and the young boy [Brandon] Williams behind him is also a very, very good player. So the back five are nice and solid and strong. What a base that is. You start from that, a great base.”
Manchester United are currently six points behind fourth-placed Chelsea on the Premier League table and nothing but a win would do if they are to keep their hopes for a Champions League berth still alive.
