By Simon Evans
MANCHESTER - Just moments after rivals Manchester City secured the Premier League title, Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer sent a clear message to the club's hierarchy.
"If you want to take up the challenge with them we need to strengthen our squad," he said.
The recently appointed pairing of football director John Murtough and technical director Darren Fletcher will now face the task of getting the deals done to give Solskjaer the means of turning his side into a team that can fight for the title.
"The whole season has given us optimism and room for optimism but also improvement," said the Norwegian, whose team are second in the Premier League and in the Europa League final.
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"Congratulations to (City). They have had a fantastic season. I am very pleased with my boys that have made it to the last 10 days with a Manchester City side ahead of us that are lauded as the best in Europe.
"We want to take the next step and it might be that we need a couple more to strengthen the squad," he said.
With a clash with Liverpool coming up on Thursday, Solskjaer fielded a weakened side in Tuesday's 2-1 loss to Leicester City and he was clearly not happy with the congested fixtures.
"It can’t be like this again. We can’t play like Thursday, Sunday, Tuesday to Thursday, it is impossible that’s the reason we made the changes. It’s unheard of at this level," he said.
Reuters