Gary Neville Highlights FOUR Key Areas Erik ten Hag Needs To Address This Transfer Window

Former Manchester United captain Gary Neville has listed the four areas in which the club “absolutely need to actually strengthen” in order to rebuild a title-winning team under Erik ten Hag.

Neville has never been one to shy away from expressing his opinions. Working as a pundit and co-commentator on Sky Sports, as well as always being very (politically) vocal on Twitter, he has plenty of opportunity to create discussion on whatever topic he desires.

A hot topic at the beginning of this transfer window, after the losses of Paul Pogba, Juan Mata, Nemanja Matic, Edinson Cavani and more, is where Manchester United should go shopping to fill the many gaps that have been created in the last 12 months.

”I think, to be honest with you, I don’t know which area needs strengthening fully until we know which players the new manager likes,” Neville explained.

Although this is true, Neville goes on to explain that there are four key areas that require immediate attention this summer.

“We know the areas they absolutely need to actually strengthen. Central midfield is an absolute necessity. An absolute necessity. Manchester United need midfield players.”

Manchester United have been heavily linked with Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong, with the latest reports suggesting that the red outfit have formally opened talks with FC Barcelona for the player.

“They also need a centre-forward.” Neville added. “I know Cristiano Ronaldo is likely to stay and he’s an absolutely brilliant performer, but they need a centre-forward. Centre-forward is a must.

“I think there’ll need to be a wide player, just to beef up the squad

It is a pretty widely accepted belief that Manchester United are in desperate need for a naturally right-sided winger after it became obvious that the two right hand options last season, Jadon Sancho and Anthony Elanga, both feel more comfortable on the left.

The club will have young Ivorian Amad Diallo returning from a loan spell at Rangers who could well offer Erik ten Hag a new dynamic on the right, however it would still be wise to purchase another right-hand sided option in the coming window such as Ajax winger Antony.

The final position Neville feels could need strengthening is fullback. “I think full-backs are absolutely critical in the modern game,” Neville explains. “[There are] four full-backs there, it’ll be interesting to see which two, three or four of those are liked.”

It has been reported that Diogo Dalot is part of Ten Hag’s plans, and that the club are listening to offers for Aaron Wan-Bissaka. On the left hand side, the current options are Alex Telles and Luke Shaw, with the latter having the potential to become a key player for the Dutchman’s future Manchester United squad.

Erik ten Hag will be taking charge of his first Manchester United fixture against Liverpool on July 12th as part of the club's 2022 pre-season tour.