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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer warns Manchester United it will take years to reshape the squad

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is not optimistic of completing his squad clear-out and rejuvenating Manchester United in the near future - REX
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is not optimistic of completing his squad clear-out and rejuvenating Manchester United in the near future - REX

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer fears it could take years to complete Manchester United’s squad clear-out.

The United manager says the departure of senior players in the last two windows is just the start of the process of renovating his squad, with no guarantee of a turnaround in fortunes in the near future.  Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sánchez and Chris Smalling left for Italy in the summer and Ashley Young has joined them this month.

Solskjaer hopes to add players to his squad but has said it is unrealistic to compete at the top of the Premier League next season even with new arrivals. "We are behind and a fair rate behind the top one now,” he said.

Marcos Rojo is among the players who can leave along with Nemanja Matic, who was one of United’s better performers in the dismal defeat by Burnley on Wednesday evening.

But many of Solskjaer’s underperforming players are on lucrative long-term contracts that will make them difficult to move on. Paul Pogba has also been unsettled but getting the right deal for him to depart will not be straightforward.

Worryingly, prospects such as Talith Chong and Angel Gomes have not agreed new deals and could follow Pogba’s path by leaving the club to make their way abroad.

In the short-term, Solskjaer wants to get through to the Premier League winter break before regrouping. United will be heading to Marbella for their warm-weather training after a camp in Qatar was scrapped due to political tensions in the Middle East.

United are still fifth in the table and have an EFL Cup semi-final next week against Manchester City - but the Burnley defeat was another setback. “I thought we had turned the corner winning games like that but we haven’t clearly. We keep chipping away,” Solskjaer said.

Daniel James, the United winger, apologised after the match to fans, many of whom left early with United trailing to Sean Dyche’s side.

 

“'We're going to react from this, we know we weren't good enough,” he said. “As a team, we need to take chances better, we had a lot of shots, we should have got the first goal with the amount of chances we had.

“When we conceded that goal, it wasn't good enough. We believed when we were 2-0 down that we could still go on to win the game. It happened at Sheffield United, we just have to believe in that but unfortunately it wasn't there.

“It's still up for grabs, tomorrow we will reflect on this game and see what went wrong. We've got two big cup games coming up and we've got to go into that with our heads held high.

“Every week, home and away, they cheer us and stick by us. We're going to react from this, we know we weren't good enough.”