Former Ballon d’Or winner Ruud Gullit has claimed Manchester United will not win major silverware this term, having ‘missed the boat’ years ago to be in Premier League title contention.
Michael Carrick’s men endured a potentially damaging derby loss at Old Trafford last weekend, to a 10-man Manchester City side that scored and kept a clean sheet after Phil Foden saw red.
Now, the Dutchman has stated that Manchester United are ‘in a hole’ and will not beat their competitors to the Premier League trophy, or any silverware for that matter.
Ruud Gullit slams Manchester United claiming Sir Alex Ferguson ‘saw it coming’
Speaking with ComeOn, Gullit slammed the Red Devils’ lack of quality claiming that Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea all possess better players.
The Dutchman then added that Manchester United “missed the boat” years ago, and that the club has fallen dramatically since their days of Premier League and Champions League success under Sir Alex Ferguson.
“Manchester United? They cannot compete this year,” Gullit claimed. “Not yet. I think they still lack a little bit of quality, as we can see they cannot control a game.
“That is not something that is going to be easy to fix. Because it does depend on a lot of individual quality, not just the team quality. If they want to achieve things again, it will take some time.
“The most important thing that Manchester United can show this season is patience. They don’t have the best players in the Premier League anymore. They are having to deal with the fact that the players they really need all play for the other clubs. They missed the boat about five or six years ago.
“It will take some time for them to get back to a level where they can [compete for] the Premier League title. There are too many stronger contenders with a lot more quality this season,” Gullit continued.
The Dutchman then suggested that Ferguson saw the club’s downfall coming, retiring ‘just in time’ during a period in which Manchester United’s rivals were going from strength-to-strength.
“Sir Alex Ferguson himself said it will take 10 years and that could be it. They are in a hole. They have been in a hole since Ferguson left and I think he knew what he was doing,” confessed Gullit.
“That’s why he retired at that time. He is clever. He saw this all coming and retired just in time. He knew at that moment that it was the end. Things were changing because more and more teams had money to spend.
“[Those teams] were bringing in these top coaches, and the top players only want to play for top coaches. That’s not Manchester United anymore. It will take them some time to come again,” the Dutchman concluded.