Ex-Red Devil Gary Neville has admitted that he would not be too worried if Manchester United were to fail to sign Matthijs de Ligt in this summer transfer window.

Manchester United appear to be in a challenge with Spanish giants Barcelona in the race to sign the highly-rated Holland international and the Red Devils do not look like the favourites to sign the defender.

Some have concluded that the mere fact that United are in the Europa League, while rival big clubs are participating in the Champions League, means they are clearly unlikely to attract the top names.

But Gary Neville is arguing that the Red Devils are still a club big enough to attract the household names in football, and missing out on the Dutch youngster is not definitive.

Speaking after the Treble Reunion match, Neville said (EuroSport): “I think United can still attract top-end players because we’ve seen good players come to the club over the last six or seven years.

“This club will never move away from being a sensational football club, it will have difficult moments and it’s having a difficult time now.”

“The money in the game now means you’re always in competition. The club has lost players when it’s been successful to Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

“It lost [Arjen] Robben to Chelsea in the mid-2000s, we lost [Samir] Nasri to City, don’t always think that when Sir Alex Ferguson was here it didn’t happen.

“This club lost players when it was successful to some of the biggest clubs in Europe that are competing with United. Don’t think that if United lose players now to Barcelona that this is the first time it’s ever happened, it’s happened before.

“It’s not because of the current plight, or the coach, or the manager, or the current players. It just happens sometimes. It happened during successful times too.”

Derrick Adams 
Ex-Red Devil Gary Neville has admitted that he would not be too worried if Manchester United were to fail to sign Matthijs de Ligt in this summer transfer window. Manchester United appear to be in a challenge with Spanish giants Barcelona in the race to sign the highly-rated Holland international...