Manchester United can be eligible for the Champions League this season despite their domestic misery, but Gary Neville has claimed that they have to sell 'eight to 10' players if they have to push in the next term.
The Red Devils have had a season of historical proportions – and not as they would hope. Currently in the 16th in the Premier League they have had a 2024-25 campaign to forget.
Defeating Erik ten Hag for Ruben Amorim in the middle of the season has hardly shown any signs of tangible improvement on the field, and their blush is demonstrably only saved by Tottenham's equally sad season with the North London people in the 17th.
But in a miraculous way, one of the two will be eligible for the Champions League when they are confronted next week in the Europa League final, although what United would do if they arrive there, will largely be based on how their recruitment is going this summer.
It is no secret that theirs is a selection that needs rejuvenation, despite a good summer of expenditure last year, but for Neville the majority of the required action would be through the exit, rather than the access doors.
He also suggested that Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Antony and Casemiro would be one of those who would leave, but hinted that their high salaries could prove an obstacle.
“You have had to deal with eight to 10 players,” the former club legend told the overlapping debate of the fan, offered to you by Sky Bet, who also made the recruitment of 'horrible' at United.
'There are three or four players who leave by being out of a contract, and he must get [another] Five or six out, and they have to pay to get them out.
'The wage of Rashford is now half paid by Manchester United. That is £ 180,000 a week, £ 8 million a year is paid by United. '
Whether or not United can put on the caliber of the player needed to bring them back to the top of the table, can still be seen.
With their form of competition, to say the least alarming, there is an argument that they are currently not presenting an attractive prospect for many potential recruits.
In addition, with the threat of PSR and the wider attempts by Sir Jim Ratcliffe to reduce the expenditure at the club, there is a chance that United cannot offer the demonstrably bloated wage to live up to the deal.
There is also the fact that they have a poor track record in recent history, for how players have done it with the club, according to Neville.
“I really believe it has been a cemetery for every player who has been added to that club for the past 10 years, apart from Bruno,” Neville added.
'There is not a single player who came to that club that has improved, apart from Bruno Fernandes, and he is a striking one to be honest, he is surprising what he does.
'The rest of them, whether you go back [Angel] Di Maria and [Bastian] Schweinsteiger, every signed player has deteriorated. '
At least United still has the chance to end up in a comparative high by winning the Europa League, and the way in which their performances have been in the competition lately, they all have attention to that competition.
They will assume a Tottenham team that, luckily for United fans, are in an even worse form than Amorim and Co.
Spurs are in fact the rock below the Premier League form table, based on the last five games – although United is only for them for target difference.