Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hasn’t set a target on the number of new arrivals he wants to see at Manchester United this summer and he will only sign players if they are the ideal fit for the club. With the pandemic meaning an entire season is set to be played out behind closed doors it could be another conservative transfer window and rather than targeting a certain number of additions this summer, Solskjaer is focusing on quality rather than quantity.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said: “We look at the squad every window and see what is out there, see what we feel we need. There might be injuries in the squad, there might be different reasons for a change. And our transfer plans, of course we have long-term plans and I feel my squad now is more and more full of younger players that can improve. I have a strong squad, a deep squad. I can’t say if it’s going to be ‘X’ amount of signings in the summer. We still look at players and it has to be the right one. It is not the amount of transfers.”
Solskjaer has had difficult spells of his own during that time but while the Blues dispensed with Lampard at the first sign of trouble, United have stood by their own former player-turned-manager and they’re beginning to reap the rewards.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said: “For me, the main thing is we’ve sat down, we have had a very open honest discussion when I came in and I laid down my plans and the club of course make a decision and they agreed with me with some of the changes we had to make. And of course I am not going to say it will never happen that we change course but as we said earlier, it is about results and you need results and you need to see improvements and hopefully we have proved to the club and to the fans, us as staff what we want from the team and want from our player.”
Solskjaer has a personal history with Tuchel, at least, having twice beaten his Paris St-Germain time at the Parc des Princes and lost twice at Old Trafford. The win in Paris in October was one of United’s best performances of the season, while the March 2019 Champions League comeback in the French capital was the night Solskjaer’s ascension to the role of permanent manager was all but confirmed.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer added: “They [Chelsea] have changed a little bit but still the same players. When they came here in a 0-0 draw, they played three at the back like Thomas has done with them,” Solskjaer said of Chelsea under Tuchel. We played against Thomas four times against PSG and I can’t remember if he played the same way twice! He might change it. That is fine. He is one of these coaches, he loves football, he knows his football and the team is very well prepared for every game and every opposition. For me, we have to prepare for all different scenarios.”
