Paul Scholes believes Manchester United still need to buy a number of players to compete with Liverpool in the Premier League, despite Bruno Fernandes’ impressive performances since signing in January.
United are currently fifth in the league, 37 points behind league leaders Liverpool, though a run of good form saw the Old Trafford club decrease the gap on fourth-place Chelsea to just three points before the season was suspended.
The £47m signing of Fernandes from Sporting has played a big part in the resurgence to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side, with the Portuguese midfielder contributing two goals and three assists in five league appearances.
However, United legend Scholes insists that his former club are still some way off challenging Liverpool and Manchester City.
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“I still think they are a bit off the pace, they’ve looked good lately since Fernandes came in but Liverpool and Manchester City are streets ahead,” Scholes told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Friday Football Social.
“There are three or four signings that can help but for the first time in a long time you feel like they could close the gap to the top.”
Despite being some key personnel away from competing for the league title, Scholes heaped praise on Fernandes and the attacking dimension he has brought to the Red Devils.
“The one thing with Bruno is he doesn’t look like a central midfielder to me, he’s an out and out number 10,” he added. “He’s great on the ball, always on the half-turn and he’s the link that United really needed.
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“They lacked that quality in midfield and since he came in he’s had that. He can feed the ball into players, he’s got a great shot on him and he looks like a real leader as well. United had lacked that.
“Whether he can play in midfield in a two, that’s yet to be seen. He’s more like an Eric Cantona, a Teddy Sheringham – he can beat players as well. He is somebody who brings what was sadly missing at Old Trafford and he seems to have livened up everyone. The team is playing well and they look like scoring goals.
“They are still behind, but they have bought a brilliant player in who seems to have knitted it all together. They did have a really good group of players but missed that one person who can make a difference – like a David Silva or Kevin de Bruyne who can glue the team together with their attacking movements.”
Paul Scholes claims Man Utd are four signings away from challenging Liverpool - Mirror Online
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