Former-Manchester United defender Gary Neville has recommended seven players that David Moyes should try and sign to help the club out, and he doesn’t think Chelsea’s Juan Mata is the right man to do that.
The Sky Sports pundit believes the Spaniard wouldn’t fit in at Old Trafford and certainly isn’t worth the £40million that Chelsea want for him, but the right-back has given a list of players that he feels would settle in and suit United’s style of play.
“If you took Paul Pogba, Marco Reus, Luke Shaw and Arturo Vidal – they would fit into Manchester United’s philosophy,” Neville said.
“Lucas Moura would and Ilkay Gundogan and Julian Draxler would. They are young players who have still not reached their full potential and have the potential to go on to be world-class players.
“They are good players at the moment and that fits the Manchester United mould of how they have historically signed, more often than not.”
On Mata, Neville said: “That’s a lot of money, but they need a signing.
“Does he fit in with what I would call the typical philosophy of Manchester United? I would say no.
“The first question, I think, is where are you going to play? Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie are up top if they are fit so where are you going to play him? Are you going to play him off the left or off the right?
“Maybe they have to change the philosophy and maybe that’s what David Moyes is thinking. Maybe he wants to play narrow wide players and maybe a three in midfield.
“They would have to change to accommodate Juan Mata in the way they normally play. They normally play with wide players.
“He’s obviously a fantastic football player, there’s no doubt about that, but one thing it does do, I suppose, is that David Moyes, Manchester United and Ed Woodward need to sign a big player.
“They need to make a noise and if they get him in it will attract potentially other players – and they need three or four players.
“What it could be is the start of something to lead to other things, but typically I wouldn’t say he fits.”