Gary Neville has urged Manchester United’s hierarchy to bring in a new striker for Erik ten Hag in the January window and believes the Red Devils are developing into a serious team.
United are now just one point off second-placed Manchester City after winning their third straight Premier League match after the resumption of the season following the World Cup, with Casemiro, Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford all netting against Bournemouth in a 3-0 win.
Neville is full of praise for the way his old club are playing and feels Ten Hag has earned the right to be backed in the January window, with a new forward desperately needed after Cristiano Ronaldo’s exit.
‘They just look like they’ve got something going. They’ve got a bit of experience in midfield, Christian Eriksen, Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes – it looks wiser,’ Neville told Sky Sports.
‘Marcus Rashford is in form. They need a forward, but they’ve got forwards who are in form. Defensively it doesn’t look that strong but they’re doing okay.
‘At the moment, the manager has got something. I think that spirit of coming through the situation with Cristiano Ronaldo, coming through the situation with Harry Maguire, coming through the difficult start to the season, they’ve all bonded.
‘They’ve probably bonded more than if they’d just had an ordinary start to the season. Ten Hag is in a strong position there now to be able to call the shots. They need to get him a striker though!’
Although United may be lacking options up top, Neville feels their strength in depth across the rest of the squad is a major weapon in the top-four race and dwarfs the options at the disposal of Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta.
He continued: ‘They’re getting stronger. I think they’ve got a lot more players than Arsenal.
‘Mikel Arteta is doing an incredible job, but you feel he’s so finely tuned if they lost a centre-back they’d be in trouble.
‘Whereas, United have got four centre-backs – much of a muchness – but they’ve got that strength in depth.
‘I think there’s a long way to go, the next few weeks are really interesting. United have got City next at home and then Arsenal away, which is really tough, so we’ll know a lot more in a few weeks.
‘Before this game it was 16 games played, that is nowhere near title talk, you’re miles away, absolutely miles away.
‘But I didn’t see the champions here [at the Emirates in Arsenal’s draw with Newcastle] tonight, personally, but I didn’t think they were champions at the start of the season so where they are is remarkable.’
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