Why United have to win the Premier League this season

Why United have to win the Premier League this season

Gary Neville believes Manchester United have to win the Premier League title this season after 4 years of not contending. The former right-back said there will be no excuses if Mourinho’s men fail to clinch the title.

United finished 7th whilst defending their Premier League crown under David Moyes, before finishing 4th and 5th under Louis van Gaal’s reign. Last season, Mourinho’s men finished 6th, but qualified for the Champion’s League through winning the Europa League (a competition which perhaps hindered their league performances).

Sunday marked the start of United’s 2017/18 campaign, and the Reds made a huge statement with a 4-0 win over West Ham. New £75m signing Romelu Lukaku scored twice, whilst fellow debutante Nemanja Matic gave a MOTM performance. All the signs looked promising, and Neville, who won the league eight times with United said before the game that Mourinho’s men must challenge this season.


“You can’t just drop your expectation because they haven’t won it for a couple of years. They have to win the league. Jose Mourinho has to win the league here,” he said on Sky Sports on Nissan Super Sunday.

“The money that’s been spent, his own personal expectations and what he’s always delivered has been titles, so I would say United have to approach this season to win the league.”

“I don’t think it’s good enough to say ‘they’re going to get back into fourth’. That isn’t an ambition when you’ve spent the money that’s been spent and amassed the players that Mourinho has now amassed.”

United have spent more than £145m this summer, bringing in Lindelof, Lukaku and Matic. Mourinho is said to want one more signing too, and Neville thinks that they are well equipped to compete for the title.

“I have never seen this league won without power and pace and a really strong spine, and it looks like United have got that,” he said.

“They look like they are going to mount a challenge. It’s day one, but they look like they have the attributes to mount a challenge for the title because they seem like they have everything.”

“There is no excuse for Man Utd not to challenge for the league. That’s not putting pressure on the players or Jose Mourinho, but they have to challenge with the money that has been spent and the players that have been brought in.”

“Last season was not good enough in terms of the Premier League, nowhere near good enough. It was a massive under-performance from those players, so they have to get back up there this year.”

When asked who United should add to their squad this summer, Neville said: “I’d name a player similar to Arjen Robben – a wide player. [Marcus] Rashford did very well today but is he a wide player? Not really.”

“I’m talking about someone who can generally play left side. If you could add one world-class winger to add to the squad you could say it was a complete squad they are covered everywhere, they have such strength.”