Manchester United are targeting ‘one or two’ new faces in January, revealed manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
United’s top four hopes were dashed on Wednesday night following a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal and attention quickly turned to transfer business on the first day of the January window.
Injuries are becoming a major issue for United, particularly in central midfield, and while Solskjaer remained coy on targets, he admitted that the club are on the hunt for a couple of additions this month.
‘Well you can see the squad and yeah, one or two additions could do nicely,’ he said.
‘We are building towards something and it just depends on what we think is right for us will be available.’
Nemanja Matic and Fred played together in the centre of the park against Arsenal and there is an acknowledgement that any further injuries would expose the lack of depth in that position.
Scott McTominay will be out for two months after picking up an injury in the recent win over Newcastle United and Paul Pogba is back on the sidelines already having only recently returned to the side.
Solskjaer confirmed after the defeat that Pogba has been told by ‘his people’ to have surgery on his ankle, ruling him out for a number of weeks, and so the pair’s long-term absences may thrust United into action in the transfer window.
Defeat is United’s sixth of the campaign in the Premier League already and they are five points adrift of Chelsea who sit fourth, after their 1-1 draw with Brighton earlier on New Year’s Day.
Consistency has blighted United’s hopes of a top four position and while Solskjaer accepted it was a performance not good enough for the supporters, he was not too downbeat, as he was seen smiling in his post-match interview.
‘For me it was a game between two teams that do have loads of quality and Arsenal showed it more than us in the first half and they won the game through that,’ Solskjaer said.
‘I thought we came out okay, got two or three counter-attacks, but then they got into the game.
‘Maybe we took too many touches, they were really sharp in the regains and they won the ball off us. We never managed to settle. And the two goals, it’s disappointing to concede.
‘We know we are fit, we know we are getting better the boys have really worked hard over the last few months.
‘We’ve had ups and downs and I can’t fault them because the energy and drive has been there, and today maybe it caught up with us but we’ll bounce back again.’
