Former Liverpool and Scotland star Graeme Souness believes only David de Gea and Cristiano Ronaldo can emerge with any credit from what has been a wretched season for Manchester United.
Souness made the admission ahead of United's trip to Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday evening. The Reds entered the clash on the south coast five points shy of the top four with just two games left to play.
United, despite investing heavily in the squad last summer, bringing Raphael Varane, Jadon Sancho and Ronaldo to the club, have failed to live up to expectations. They have produced far too many uninspiring performances and face the strong likelihood of missing out on Champions League football for next season.
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But throughout the misery that United's supporters have encountered this season, both De Gea and Ronaldo have impressed. The latter has scored 24 goals in all competitions, whereas De Gea has produced a wealth of impressive performances and important saves to stop the club from falling into an even worse position.
"You'd like to think you'll get honesty from the players," Souness told Sky Sports. "You'll like to think the players are playing for their futures at that club because there must be question marks over so many of them.
"So many have underperformed, we know they're better, but it's okay us saying that, but they have to go out and do it. Near enough to a man, Ronaldo's chipped in with goals and the goalkeeper [De Gea], maybe. Other than that, you're struggling to find anyone that you would say are anything like a Man United player."
Ahead of kick-off against Brighton, United found themselves 25 and 24 points behind Manchester City and Liverpool, respectively. United hope to start bridging that gap under Erik ten Hag next season, but Souness has doubts about whether or not they have the quality to challenge them.
"I have to say Man United, arguably the biggest football club in the world, have got a monumental task from making the jump to where they are now to challenging with City and Liverpool," added the former Liverpool man. "I'm not sure where [Ten Hag] would start.
"There are so many areas that he would have to strengthen. If everyone gives 100 per cent in every game then they might be able to creep up. I don't think they have enough quality."
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