Phil Neville names five transfer targets for Manchester United

Phil Neville

The 42-year-old, who is now head coach of the England women’s team, wants to see the core of the squad bulked up with two defenders, two midfielders and a forward.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer replaced the sacked Jose Mourinho as manager of the Red Devils in December on a caretaker basis, but the Norwegian’s future in the role remains unclear.

However, Neville has pointed his former team-mate towards a quintet of stars across Europe who he believes would help boost United’s Premier League title credentials.

"Gareth Bale is ready-made," Neville told Premier League Today.

“Ole has said he wants to buy a hungry player. I think [Jadon] Sancho is that hungry player. But Bale has won Champions Leagues and played at the top level.

"I don't think wages are an issue at Manchester United. You are talking guaranteed quality who can play across the front line."

“The two signings in the back four would be Raphael Varane from Real Madrid and Joao Cancelo from Juventus.

"Cancelo, I worked with him at Valencia and have seen him at Juventus and I think he's top drawer."

"Eric Dier as the holding midfield player and Philippe Coutinho, who there has been a bit of speculation about,” he added.

"You have to have British players in a title-winning team. [Ander] Herrera, Fred and [Scott] McTominay are part of the squad. [Nemanja] Matic, this season, has had a dip."

Alasdair Mackenzie is a freelance journalist based in Rome, and a FourFourTwo contributor since 2015. When not pulling on the FFT shirt, he can be found at Reuters, The Times and the i. An Italophile since growing up on a diet of Football Italia on Channel 4, he now counts himself among thousands of fans sharing a passion for Ross County and Lazio.