Solskjaer Doesn’t Want Any “Rotten Apples” at United

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has reiterated his stance on United’s transfer policy and suggested the type of players he is looking for when speaking to the Shiv Nadar Foundation this week.

Since Ole took over it seems clear that a monumental shift in transfer policy has taken place with United no longer looking for those huge marquee name signings for big money but searching for a different type of younger, hungrier player with a lot left to prove. Solskjaer seems to put a big emphasis on character and personality. The signings of Maguire, Fernandes, Wan-Bissaka, Ighalo all show his plans for character, with all of these players displaying a real passion and desire to play for Manchester United.

Solskjaer said when speaking to the Foundation “I did feel that I was professional and did feel privileged to play for Manchester United,”

“I wouldn’t be able to look at myself if I didn’t know I’d given everything for my team-mates and my manager.

“That’s what I also now look for in players that we sign or we bring up from the youth team. You have to have a good personality and that you are professional because one rotten apple in the basket will make the others rotten.

“So for me it’s about building a team that will reflect me and my coaching staff’s personalities and views. Of course there are standards because we want to win. We are in the business to win.

“But the first step to be a Manchester United player and person, you have to be humble enough to know you always have to work hard. Never give in and always do your best, 100% effort is required every day and don’t think you are better than you are.

“You still have to play with that confidence at the same time. It’s a fine balance but that is what is going to make the difference when we want to get to the championship again that we want to win.”

‘More academy stars will break through’

Solkjaer seems to favour a youthful exuberance with his average signings ages being 3 years younger then his predecessor Jose Mourinho. He has also promoted young players and given opportunities to young lads like Brandon Williams and Daniel James consistently this season.

Solskjaer went on and said “I think we’ve always been built on youth and young players coming through and there’s always going to be one or two special kids coming through the youth system at Manchester United. We do have a couple who I’m sure that we will see in the next couple of years,”.

“I don’t want to put pressure on them in giving the names now because I don’t think it’s fair but there’s a few that we believe are going to make it as first-team players at Manchester United.

“Of course, you can see Mason Greenwood now and Brandon Williams, Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard, Scott McTominay, Paul Pogba’s been in the system, so has Andreas Pereira.

“It’s fantastic to see those kids be successful and we think that we’re going to see a few more coming through.”

Mason Greenwood is another player who has been given opportunities by Solskjaer and seems to have a very bright future ahead of him being touted at his tender age as potentially being one of the best players in the world in the future. It’s early
days but there’s no doubting Solskjaer’s impact in progressing the young career’s of United’s players this season with the Norwegian red legend giving chances to Williams, Greenwood, James, Wan-Bissaka, Rashford regularly. Mason Greenwood has
repaid the faith shown in the now 18-year old (17 when given debut by Ole) England youth prospect having netted 12 goals in all competitions for Man Utd so far this term. A fantastic achievement in his maiden season at Old trafford.

Solskjaer said in regards to the season starting back up “The first game is two weeks away so we need to step up the training and get an edge to our game again,” the United boss told the club’s official website. “Everyone knows that we will have to be at our best, have to be focused against Tottenham.

“We know it’s a big game for everyone. We had Chelsea when we started the league this season so I’m confident that our players can go into the Tottenham game with that mentality of going there to play a very good game of football.

“Training has been about recapping what we did well, tweaking maybe one or two things and looking at some new ideas, but hopefully we can see a lot of what we saw towards the end before the lockdown.”

What a mouth watering match up we have for the 19th June when Manchester United meet Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium. Can Solskjaer best our ex-manager again this season and do the double?
Let’s hope so and also that he gives him another sympathetic pat on the head at final whistle!