Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has confirmed Manchester United want up to three players to strengthen their first XI next season. United have gone four years without a trophy after they were beaten 11-10 on penalties by Villarreal in a laboured Europa League final in Gdansk. Pau Torres, scouted by United throughout the season, helped Villarreal to win their first major trophy in Poland but United are not believed to have had any recent dialogue with his camp.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said: “I’ve been delighted with the effort, the desire, the determination of all of the players, I can’t fault them at all. We’ve probably done as well as anyone could imagine. We are here now, we need to do better, we need to work better, work harder, cleverer. But as I said two or three players to strengthen the starting XI and the squad all together is important for us to go even further. Because I’m sure our contenders or challengers will also want to improve and we want to improve as much as we can.”
Solskjaer downplayed the significance of silverware in March but clarified United’s campaign could not be considered a success after they ended it cupless.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said: “It’s not a successful season and that’s the fine margin in football. Sometimes one kick can define a season as a good one and a successful one, and one kick says it’s not. Improvement, yeah, second in the league, probably no one expected us to be second in the league after the start we had, after the lack of pre-season we had. The boys have been really, really good but just came up short tonight, unfortunately. That’s penalties, we could have been sat here saying a successful season after the same game. But trophies matter and that’s what matters at this club. No, is the short answer.”
