“Manchester United Cannot Win EPL This Year” says Gary Neville

Manchester United legend Gary Neville does not feel United can win the EPL title this year.

Neville said: “Unless two or three players come in I don’t think it’s realistic that he can win the league this year. In Chicharito, Rooney, Van Persie and Welbeck, they have still got, I think, probably the best strikers in the league as a pool. But I do think it would be a massive ask for Manchester United to win the league this year from where they have been, unless they sign two or three real stars and they all bed in immediately in the next few weeks. Van Gaal’s got the confidence to think he can win the league. You can’t turn around as Manchester United manager and say anything other than ‘our aspiration and ambition is to win the league’.”

Now, let’s rewind the clock .About year a ago Manchester United were crowned for the 20 time with 5 games to go. After beating Swansea City in a familiar fashion, in the dying minutes of the game, Sir Alex in his retirement speech, then asked the United fans to stay behind the new manager if bad times loomed over Old Trafford. He reminded them of his earlier times when his staff, the board and his players stood behind him which led to creating the whole Legend of Sir Alex Ferguson. He chose David Moyes as his successor and left him a team of Champions.

In April 2014, the Old Trafford faithful had completely lost faith in David Moyes. United were out of the Champions League, out of the title race, out of the league cup, FA Cup and even a Europa League spot seemed to be slipping away. A  2-0 defeat at Moyes’s former club Everton was the final nail in the coffin. David Moyes left the club on the back of that defeat on the 22 of April, 2014, exactly a year after United won their 20 league title. Ryan Giggs took charge for the final four games of the season and United finished 7 for the first time in the Premier League era.Manchester United appointed Louis Van Gaal as the new manager. Meanwhile the new manager was on World Cup duty with the Dutch team, United lost huge experience on the field when club captain Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra decided to leave United while Ryan Giggs decided to hang up his boots as Louis Van Gaal appointed him as his number two.

Manchester United entered the transfer market and bought Ander Herrera from Athletic Bilbao and highly rated left back, Luke Shaw from Southampton. Since buying those two in less than 48 hours, United have been quiet in the transfer market while rival clubs like Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool have invested heavily.

Louis Van Gaal was highly praised for his tactics at this year’s World Cup where his highly inexperienced side finished 3 in the competition. Since taking charge, Manchester United are unbeaten in the preseason and have beaten the likes of European Champions Real Madrid, Roma and finally beating arch rivals Liverpool in the final of the International Champions Cup. So, United fans have every reason to be excited about the new season, but they shouldn’t be fooled by the preseason. There are still a lot of cracks and Gary’s words, however negative they sound, are true. It will be very difficult to get past Chelsea and Manchester City but when Manchester United are in the scene, miracles do happen, but those will only happen if Van Gaal and Ed Woodward can sign in a few players and make them a force they once were.