Paul Scholes has joined in with his former Manchester United colleagues Rio Ferdinand and Gary Neville in casting doubt on the club’s ability to challenge for the Premier League title this summer. The BT Sport pundit, who made 718 appearances for the club across 20 years, has rarely shied away from critiquing his former club, and has offered a blunt assessment of United’s chances in comparison with bitter rivals Manchester City and Liverpool.
“When you look at Manchester City, possibly Liverpool, I don’t think they [United] have the quality of those two teams at the minute,” Scholes said in quotes carried by the Mirror. “Liverpool have made some really good signings. United finished above them last season.
“I just don’t see United getting closer to City. City are a really good side, great manager, some great players, a way of playing that they all know about and Manchester United seem to be not too sure what’s going on.
“You don’t really know the team, you don’t really know the players, you don’t know how they’re going to perform from one week to the next. So I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t see them challenging for the league this year.”
On the one hand, former United players can hardly be blamed for offering their opinions on the current situation at Old Trafford. Jose Mourinho has spent a large part of this summer complaining that he wasn’t getting his desired targets, and cut a frustrated figure throughout United’s pre-season tour of the United States. However, it can’t be of much help to the manager or his team to see established legends of the club offering such frequent criticism of their current plight, especially in the wake of a useful 2-1 win over Leicester City last Friday. Here’s hoping an encouraging start to this Premier League campaign can inject some positivity into those tasked with watching United on a weekly basis.
