Can United Challenge for The Title Next Season?

What a difference six months make in football. In the opening half of the season, doubts were rising over the future of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Manchester United. Many pundits were questioning the decision to allow Romelu Lukaku to leave to join Inter Milan and it looked as though a top-four finish was a mountain too high to climb.

Now the rocky road looks to be in the rear mirror, can Ole’s men be seen as outsiders for the title next season? Here are some reasons to be optimistic they can be.

Free-scoring Front Three Should Continue To Shine
At the time of writing, Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, and Mason Greenwood have scored 41 goals in the league between them this season. When you consider the average age of those players, that is an impressive return.

The exciting young trio justify the reasoning behind Ole letting go of Lukaku last summer. The United boss wanted forwards who fit into his system in the final third of the pitch and he has got that with those players.

Rashford, Martial, and Greenwood are going to continue to score goals. Greenwood is just 18-years-old and you can see his confidence is growing with every game. Ole has described him as one of the best finishers he has ever seen. When you consider some of the great strikers he played with during his career, that is high praise.

Liverpool and Manchester City have both succeeded over the last couple of years as their front three have been too hot to handle. If United’s latest front line can continue to improve their goal return, the club has a great chance of being in the title hunt next season.

Bruno Fernandes
No player has made a bigger impact on the team for a number of years as Bruno Fernandes has. Not only has the Portuguese midfielder provided some welcomed class on the ball, he has given the rest of the squad a lift.

United fans are getting very excited about how good a Fernandes-Pogba partnership can be. It could be exactly what the Frenchman needs for him to flourish in Manchester.

Fernandes will be hoping he can win silverware in his first season at the club. He has produced some exceptional performances in the Europa League this season. United are the 2/1 favourites in the sports betting for that competition. This would be a great way to end the campaign.

Investment At The Back
Finishing in the top four this season will greatly help the recruitment drive this summer. The area Ole will look to improve when the transfer window reopens is at the back. He is likely to want a centre-back to add to his squad.

Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly has been linked with United in the past and a player of that magnitude would really elevate their back four. The Senegal international won’t come cheap though, so it would be a bold move by club’s owners to spend big once again on a central defender.

Wherever United finish this season, fans should be very optimistic about the 2020/21 campaign as it finally looks as though the club is going back in the right direction.