Gary Neville urges Manchester United to bolster the defence in January

Manchester legend-turned-pundit Gary Neville believes the Red Devils could have an outside chance of competing for the title this season, if they are stay alive in the title race until the turn of the year. Jose Mourinho’s side have made an average start to the season with just six points from their opening four matches but Neville feels they could still compete for the Premier League with a couple of defensive-minded signings in January.

In a report covered by The Times, Neville said: “[I’m] still hopeful that somehow, through siege mentality more than anything, they can mount some sort of challenge that really just disrupts people. If they can stay in it until January and maybe get one or two defenders in, they may have a chance, but I doubt it. I think United will be third or fourth. Believe it or not I liked the Tottenham game, certainly the first 40 minutes. I watched Burnley and thought it was really good. I am hopeful they have turned a corner.”

United were expected to spend big during the summer transfer window in order to close the gap on Manchester City at the top. However, to the surprise of many supporters, they were restrictive with their spending throughout the summer and they eventually ended with just three players in Fred, Diogo Dalot, and Lee Grant for a combined fee of around £70m.

Since then, Fred has been the only one who has featured in three of the club’s four league matches but Dalot could enter the fray in the forthcoming games after having recovered from a knee surgery. Grant, however, was only bought by the club to perform the third-choice goalkeeping duties and the veteran may get some gametime in the League Cup, though Sergio Romero should likewise compete for the same.