Gary Neville names the two rival players who would definitely be at Man Utd if Sir Alex Ferguson was still manager

Gary Neville believes two Premier League stars currently at Arsenal and Liverpool would be playing for Manchester United if Sir Alex Ferguson was still manager of the club.

United have been mismanaged in the transfers department for several years by the club's current owners, the Glazer family.

The Red Devils have recruited poorly and gone from regular Premier League title contenders to battling for the top four every season.

INEOS founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe is set to take a 25 per cent stake in the club and assume control of all footballing operations at Old Trafford.

Ratcliffe, a boyhood United fan, is hoping to restore the club to its former glories and is already going about restructuring at the executive level.

Omar Berrada will be joining from Manchester City as CEO next summer and Newcastle United sporting director Dan Ashworth has been approached.

Their arrivals will likely see a shift in transfer priorities, which Neville discussed on the latest edition of Stick to Football, brought to you by Sky Bet.

Neville believes Ashworth will review every signing United have made under the current regime and scrutinise who they've missed out on.

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The former Red Devils defender believes Declan Rice and Luis Diaz, who moved to Arsenal and Liverpool over the last two years, are players who'd typically end up at United in their glory years.

He explained: "Do you know what I think he will do [Dan Ashworth]? He will look back at analysis because he is that type of guy, he’ll look at who has signed off on the players that have been signed over the past 2 or 3 years. Because there’ll be reports there, they’ll be names against who has signed off on players – he’ll do all of that.

"He’ll look at things like the players they missed out on, and what was said about those players.

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"Say, Luis Diaz goes to Liverpool, or Declan Rice goes to Arsenal, they’ll look at what they were saying about Declan Rice because that historically was a Manchester United player, Declan Rice.

"The best player in England, who was at another club like West Ham, United would sign that player. To sort of access the staff that are in there now. He’ll be looking at everything in detail, he is so detailed.

"I do think there will be change – whether that brings success or not, but there will be change in terms of everything that goes on. And it’s needed, they’ve operated for 10 years without a sporting director – with a manager and Ed Woodward, who is predominantly banker and financier."

Gary Neville was speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet.

Topics: Manchester United, Premier League, Arsenal, Liverpool, Sir Alex Ferguson, Transfers, Declan Rice, Luis Diaz, Gary Neville

Daniel Marland

Daniel is a social editor for SPORTbible after moving from the writing team. Nearly scored past Stormzy at Old Trafford once.

@DanMarland_