Former Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves has urged his old club to go out and get Borussia Dortmund wonderkid Jude Bellingham this summer.
The Red Devils are out of the Champions League after last night’s surprise home defeat to Atletico Madrid, and it’s clearly going to be time for a major rebuilding job at Old Trafford ahead of next season.
Hargreaves still believes top players would want to come to Old Trafford, and has named Bellingham as the talent he would go out and get this summer.
The England international is certainly an exciting prospect after showing what he can do in the Bundesliga, but it remains to be seen if he’d realistically pick a move to Man Utd when so many other elite clubs would also probably be in for him.
Bellingham looks good enough to play for any club he likes, so could surely do better than United right now, with Ralf Rangnick’s side looking far away from winning any trophies, while even a top four spot looks unlikely by the end of this campaign.
Discussing what United do next, Hargreaves told BT Sport, as quoted by the Daily Mirror: “When we played, we knew who was going to be signed and who was already in there.
“I’m optimistic because United have the chance to go and get anyone, and most people will want to come here. Get a coach in. Get a sporting director. Go and get Jude Bellingham! He’s the guy I’d start with, he’s young and hungry.”
Hargreaves’ former team-mate Rio Ferdinand was less sure, however, pointing out that the big-name signings that joined last summer didn’t have the desired effect.
“I don’t necessarily think it’s about who you sign though,” the former MUFC defender said. “I was screaming at the start of the season ‘Oh we’ve got [Cristiano] Ronaldo, we’ve got [Raphael] Varane now’. Big players. If the culture at the football club isn’t right, it doesn’t matter who you bring in.
“You need a manager that can guide the ship, and United don’t have that at the moment. We’ve seen it enough this season, people walking away from this stadium or anywhere they’ve played saying ‘I didn’t get enough at of X, Y or Z player that game.'”