Manchester United legend Paul Scholes believes that the club are still a long way from challenging for the title following the 1-1 draw against Southampton yesterday.

The former player believes it could take two years before manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has a squad he is happy with and he has predicted they will trail four clubs in the Premier League as the club set about a rebuild:

“I think you almost have to write United off for the next two years, this team. I think until Ole Gunnar has cleared everything he wants out, there’s four or five transfer windows, United are going to be behind Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham.”

Whether Solskjaer will get that long in the job if results don’t improve, it seems debatable. Five points from four games is United’s worst start in 28 years, and they already trail league leaders Liverpool by seven points.

After the international break, the Red Devils have a relatively tricky fixture list. They have a home game against Leicester City, before their first Europa League fixture versus Astana.

They then travel to London to face West Ham before a home tie in the Carabao Cup against Rochdale. They end September with a big game versus Arsenal at Old Trafford.