Former Manchester United man Keith Gillespie insists that the club must prioritise the Europa League this season as they look to end a four-year trophy drought, in an exclusive interview with Football FanCast.
United are currently second in the Premier League and are eight points clear of fifth-placed West Ham United.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men are likely to finish in the top four this season but their only hope of silverware comes in the Europa League.
Will Manchester United finish in the top four?
Of course!
Not this year!
United lost to Leicester City in an FA Cup quarter-final at the weekend, and are also 14 points behind leaders Manchester City in the league.
They will play Granada in the quarter-finals of the Europa League, with the victor playing the winner of the tie between Ajax and Roma.
Gillespie believes that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer should throw all of his eggs into the European basket, as United are enduring a barren patch.
Their last success came in the 2016/17 season, when Jose Mourinho’s men won the League Cup and the Europa League.
Speaking to FFC, Gillespie was asked whether a top-four finish sounds good enough for United this season.
He said: “It doesn’t and that’s because of the standard they’ve set over all these years, since the Premier League really began back in the early 90s.
“It’s four years without a trophy. You look at last season, the semi-finals that they got to and lost in every one. They’ve had a favourable draw in the Europa League with Granada. So you would expect them to get to the semis there.
“But I think we probably are going to finish in the top four. So it is something which they do need to prioritise. They’ve got a big enough squad where they can rotate at times with the league, but in terms of the Europa League, go out there and play your best team and try and win that tournament because four years without a trophy is something Man United aren’t used to, in terms of the dominance that they’ve had for a lot of years under Sir Alex.
“So I think it is something that they do need to really look at and prioritise.”