While the Red Devils fans are anticipating good acquisitions in time for the January transfer window, United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is warning in advance they should not get their hopes too high. The Norwegian said that not too many inviting deals are available at the start of the year.
At the same time, Solskjaer conceded that United badly needs reinforcement, specifically in the scoring department in light of the summer exit of forwards Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez. When hiring, the focus of the club is to beef up the strike force, he added.
As for new talents coming in for the winter, Solskjaer said United supporters need to manage their expectations. It's not exactly bountiful during that time of the year when it comes to hunting for great football talents.
"On transfers we always look at the long term. It might be one, two or none in January," ESPN reported the United boss as saying.
"The summer window is the one we always look to. You cannot really do too many good deals in January," the Norwegian added.
However, if only to meet the immediate needs of the struggling Reds, Solskjaer seems okay with hiring that help the team in the short-term. Metro said this is in line with the reports that a new striker is set to arrive at Old Trafford soon and the deal on this is done.
The report suggested Moussa Dembele that supposedly United will lure away from Lyons. Mario Mandzukic has been mentioned as well to coming from Juventus though the 33-year-old is a departure from Solskjaer's vision of building a young talented team with mostly homegrown talents.
This is an exception that the team manager is willing to make just to ensure that the Reds will advance in the latter stage of the league. Following the club's generally dismal performance in the season, rumors have been swirling that Solskjaer could be sacked unless the team generates better results.
For now, United's focus is to bring back the injured players into form, stay competitive, and win more games, the club boss said.
"The priority now is to get the players fit and get to the next round ... I think this team is improving and the longer time we get together, the more we will improve," Fox Sports reported the Norwegian as saying.
"I can see the improvement in these kids more and more. We need the experienced lads. Paul [Pogba], we've got Anthony [Martial] back and hopefully we'll have Luke [Shaw] back soon, Eric [Bailly] will be back soon," Solskjaer shared.
