Ole Gunnar Solskjaer claims Manchester United may be able to catch Liverpool and Manchester City in the Premier League title race thanks to ‘adding some top personalities’ including Paul Pogba and Eric Bailly.
The Red Devils begin their Premier League campaign at Old Trafford against Crystal Palace on Saturday evening as they look to improve on their third place finish last season.
United have only made one major signing so far this summer, brining in Donny van de Beek from Ajax, but Solskjaer believe the squad has been further boosted by the return from loan of Dean Henderson, the return from injury of Pogba and Bailly and the January arrival of Bruno Fernandes.
The Norwegian believes these plusses could be enough to see his side overhaul the two teams that finished above them last season.
‘The next step is to move closer to the top two teams and let’s see how much of that gap we can close realistically,’ Solskjaer told reporters.
‘The two teams in front of us have been way in front of the rest. It’s a chasing pack and we want to be top of that chasing pack and, who knows, stranger things have happened in football [than overtaking Liverpool or City].
‘We’ve got Dean [Henderson] in, we’ve got Donny [van de Beek] in, Paul [Pogba]’s fit now, Bruno [Fernandes]’s first game was in February so he hasn’t been here long. Eric Bailly has come back and is fit, and is looking really good.
‘So we hope that we can move forward and who’s to say that we can’t?’
Solskjaer has a near-fully fit squad to choose from against Palace, just missing Phil Jones and Axel Tuanzebe.
Van de Beek is likely to make his debut, and while Luke Shaw is available, he may not be risked from the start as he continues his recovery to full match fitness from an ankle injury.
