Gary Neville has labelled Manchester United 's front three the "weakest" of the Premier League big six, signalling exactly where Erik ten Hag should look to improve in the January transfer window.
The Red Devils have only scored 18 league goals this season, a measly tally after 13 games which is only worsened by one of the traditional top dogs, the struggling Chelsea. In a brutal analysis of United's wretched 3-1 defeat away to Aston Villa on Sunday, the ex-Old Trafford captain took aim at Ten Hag's attack, which on Sunday was comprised of Marcus Rashford, Alejandro Garnacho and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Comparing the Red Devils' forward line to the likes of Tottenham 's, Neville stated on his Sky Sports podcast : "Manchester United's front three, I think I actually said it last week, they are the weakest out of the top six. You think of [Dejan] Kulusevski, [Harry] Kane and [Heung-min] Son, Manchester United would definitely take those three.
"Arsenal's front three - [Gabriel] Jesus, [Gabriel] Martinelli and [Bukayo] Saka - they'd definitely take them over the three they have. Liverpool's front three of [Darwin] Nunez, [Luis] Diaz, [Diogo] Jota, [Mohamed] Salah and [Roberto] Firmino, you'd definitely choose three of them over any of United's. Chelsea, I think [Raheem] Sterling, [Kai] Havertz and [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang, you'd probably even take those three.
"I think Manchester United's front players aren't as good as they should be. Ten Hag, I think, is getting the maximum out of them. I don't know where the money's gone, again. I always feel like that with United, you look at the spend over the last four of five years and they're still not as good as they should be."
Recent comments from Ten Hag suggest that he agrees with Neville's scathing assessment, admitting after Thursday's futile 1-0 win against Real Sociedad that the Red Devils are indeed lacking in the forward department. "We need options. We have problems there [with injuries]," the United boss bemoaned. "Antony is not available, Anthony Martial is not available, Jadon Sancho is not available. So it's thin."
With an unimpressive four Premier League goals this term, Rashford sits top of the Red Devils' scoring charts. Despite their woes, however, Neville still sees promising signs from Ten Hag's team which should give the Dutchman license to build a more potent squad over the next few seasons.
Have your say! Which forward should Man Utd sign in January? Let us know your pick in the comments section.
"I think Erik ten Hag needs two, three, four years in the job, he needs those three or four transfer windows because there's signs that they are getting better - but they're not back," the former England defender declared. "Back is when you're seeing them challenging the top when they really are a fantastic football team, that's not happening at this moment in time.
"Erik ten Hag will recognise that his team are far away from where he wants them to be, but there is spirit there, there is a tenacity in the team that hasn't been there in the first couple weeks of the season and that wasn't there and wasn't evident under Ralf Rangnick. So there are things that are better, but they're not back."
