Manchester United told to make 'realistic' double Newcastle United-linked transfer swoop

Manchester United have been told two current and former Newcastle United stars should be viewed as ‘realistic’ additions to their squad during the summer transfer window.

The Red Devils were one of the biggest spenders last summer as they fought off competition from Newcastle to secure the signings of Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko as well as adding Belgian goalkeeper Senne Lemmens to their ranks. Despite struggling to hit the heights expected under former head coach Ruben Amorim, the interim appointment of Michael Carrick has taken the 13-time Premier League champions into contention for a Champions League spot and Monday’s home win against Brentford has all but secured a top five spot with just four games remaining.

Although Carrick’s long-term future at Old Trafford remains up in the air, there is a suggestion the Red Devils hierarchy are now firmly focused on boosting their squad once again during the summer transfer window. Former captain Gary Neville has suggested his old club must look to strengthen in midfield and defensive areas and has stated former Newcastle midfielder Elliot Anderson and current Magpies star Sandro Tonali should be on their ‘realistic’ list of targets after insisting three preferred targets would only attainable in the ‘dream world’.

He told Sky Sports: “If you said three, I’d want two midfield players and a centre-half. If you said to me a top centre-half and two good midfield players, that’s what this squad needs right now. To be fair, it does need other things after that, but I would say, to me, they dealt with the wide areas [last summer].

“They’ve got Amad [Diallo], [Bryan] Mbeumo, [Matheus] Cunha, [Mason] Mount who can play there a little bit, so I’m actually okay with that. I think No.10s with Mount and Bruno Fernandes. Bruno plays there every week, he’s reliable, so I’d say there’s no problem there. It’s two central midfield players and definitely a centre-half, we need a top centre-half. Dream world, it would be Marquinhos, [Declan] Rice and [Harry] Kane. Realistic, I’m going Tonali, Anderson and I’m going Konsa.”

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