Neville wants extensive Man Utd recruitment with five signings ‘perfect’ for Carrick this summer | OneFootball

Gary Neville wants five, maybe six new signings at Manchester United this summer to give Michael Carrick the best chance at succeeding next season.

United confirmed third place for the season when they beat Nottingham Forest on Sunday. They’d already secured Champions League football and it’s widely reported that Carrick is going to be given the manager job permanently as a result of those successes.

United legend Neville feels a lot of recruitment is needed to help the new boss succeed.

He said on Sky Sports: “They need backup at full-back… on both sides. In an ideal world you bring three defenders in. I’m trying to think of [Piero] Hincapie at Arsenal who plays left-back and left centre-back, I think Ben White’s done that as well, [Cristhian] Mosquera’s done that, where they’ve played [two positions].

“They almost need one of them who can play in two positions, that can support. Then they need another top centre-back and then they do need a left-back. I think three defenders would be perfect.

“A centre-back who can play centre-back and right-back. A centre-back who’s top notch who can really be a figurehead, and then a left-back to back up Luke Shaw so that they can alternate between Premier League and Champions League, whatever the most important matches are.

“Then they need two midfield players. In an ideal world you’d think that five would be perfect.

“If you were being really greedy you’d maybe swap out Mason Mount for another forward of some kind. You’ve got to think about the fact that Bruno [Fernandes] is difficult to replace. Mason Mount sort of half does that a little bit, so maybe it would be him.

“If it wasn’t him then someone else, you see these players like [Phil] Foden and [Cole] Palmer, [Rayan] Cherki at other clubs, who can play sometimes as a number 10, sometimes they play wide.

“Almost like a flexible forward that can play in that number 10 role if Bruno Fernandes is not there for any reason.

“I’m asking for six players there and I don’t think I’m being greedy, it’s just how much these players cost. How smart can Manchester United be.

“The absolute unequivocals are a top centre-back and two top central midfield players. But they’ve got to go and get two or three more around that to beef up the squad to enable themselves to compete and to give Michael Carrick the best chance of being able to repeat the performance that he’s had without the Champions League games and the interference of cup competitions this season.”