Gary Neville insists Man Utd will have ‘real problem’ on two conditions after ‘absolutely essential’ deals | OneFootball

Manchester United legend Gary Neville has explained why he thinks his former club will have a “real problem” on two conditions.

Neville has reflected on Man Utd’s business after the transfer window closed earlier this week.

In the summer, Man Utd largely focused on overhauling their midfield, having invested around £150m to sign Carlos Baleba, Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans.

United also recruited new backup goalkeeper Karl Darlow and several youngsters, but there are concerns that they have too few options in other positions.

Neville has praised Man Utd for fixing their midfield, but he fears that they will have a “real problem” if Luke Shaw and Harry Maguire get injured.

“They had to deal with the midfield, they only had one player in Mainoo, so they had to get three in midfield, that was absolutely essential – whether you could argue they got the right players in midfield, we will find that out in the next six to eight months,” Neville said on Sky Sports.

“They obviously liked Tonali, Anderson and Fernandes, but they went for £80-£100m and that would have swept up too much of their transfer budget and the volume of players they needed as Ugarte – who nobody thought was good enough anyway – also got injured in the World Cup, so they had to deal with that.

“Carrick knew he needed defenders, apparently they went for Ait Nouri late on and if Shaw – who does tend to get injured – and Maguire got injured, it would be a real problem.”

He continued: “They’ve left themselves short in defence.”

Michael Carrick leaps to the defence of Man Utd’s transfer business

Despite this, Man Utd boss Michael Carrick has insisted that he is pleased with his side’s summer transfer business.

“I think we’ve brought some really good players into the football club, and improved the squad in different ways, individually but collectively,” Carrick told Sky Sports.

“I think we’ve grown. You go into the window and when you come out of it, you want to be stronger than you were at the start. I’m convinced we are that.

“Transfer windows are never straightforward and this window in particular has been challenging for different reasons. There’s a lot of money being spent in and around the league itself, and I think we’ve made the most of the situation that we’ve found ourselves in.

“That’s the world we live in. Teams at certain points are going to spend a lot of money. Sometimes it’s going to be more than what we spend, sometimes maybe not. We’ve got to make the most of what we can and understand where we’re at. I think we’re a very good team, we want to keep getting better.”