GARY Neville believes Manchester United MUST buy a new goalkeeper to have ANY chance of a top six finish.
Sky Sports pundit Neville won eight Prem crowns as Old Trafford’s right-back under Sir Alex Ferguson.
GettyGary Neville doesn’t Man Utd[/caption]
GettyNeville singled out Andre Onana as a priority to replace for the Red Devils[/caption]
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But Neville, 50, is dismissive of United’s prospects of coming close to the top of the tree this term.
And he suggested that even earning Champions League football was out of the equation unless Ruben Amorim can land a new No 1.
Neville said: “For United, the top six would be healthy.
“We’ve gone past the point now where we say Manchester United have to win the league. That’s unrealistic.
“My feeling is probably seventh, eighth is where I’m looking at it now.
“But without Europe, they could get into the top six if they have a good run, if they get a goalkeeper. But a lot of things have to go their way.”
Neville, whose criticisms of United last term grew increasingly strident as the club plunged to its worst top flight finish in half a century, feels the summer spending at the front end has made a difference.
United, being linked with PSG gloveman Gianluigi Donnarumma – who is determined to quit the European champions – have splashed out £200m to land Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and now Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko.
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All three are set to start when United open their campaign against Arsenal on Sunday.
Speaking at the Sky Sports season launch, Neville added: “If you said to me after that Europa League Final defeat to Spurs that Manchester United would have a forward line of those three that they’ve signed, I’d take that, I’d have snapped your hand off.
“I didn’t think they had £200 million to spend.
“So the fact they’ve signed those three players is good.
“I like the profile of those players, whether they settle in now is obviously the big question.
“Two of them are proven Premier League players, although they’ve got to step up a level.
“Mbeumo is quite solid, he’s robust, he’s played at Premier League level.
“He and Cunha know the Premier League, they’ve been to all the grounds, there’s no shocks for them.
GettyMan Utd have spent big this summer on Premier League proven talent such as Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha[/caption]
GettyThe addition of RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko last week took their spending for the window to over £200m[/caption]
“And Sesko up front. He’s young, he’s got potential but can he get off to a good start? That’s important for him.”
He added: “Can they embed themselves at United? Can they get the probably 35-40 goals which would be par for those three players?
“If they can get 40 goals – and United’s goals total last season was terrible – they’ve got chance of getting into that top six.
“But they’ve got to settle those three players, and we can’t take that for granted anymore at United, I don’t think.
“United will be looking at Champions League, that’ll be the ambition.
“Not playing in Europe has to help, because there’s basically more training time, less pressure on the players, less injuries.
“It means that the best players can play more often in the league, and not have those demands of a Thursday night game.
“But we’ve got to start the season well – and there are some tough fixtures early on.”
Sky Sports and NOW will broadcast over 215 Premier League matches exclusively live this season
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