The former Manchester United defender discusses the club's difficult season and where they need to strengthen in the summer.
Visit Betway for the latest Premier League betting markets.
Would winning the Europa League be enough to save United’s season?
No, I think it’s still going to be there. The fact that we’re going to finish where we’re going to finish reflects on a terrible season, really.
But if we can do it, it will glean something from it and it’ll be a huge positive in the end if we could qualify for the Champions League, because I think that’s the first aim for a lot of teams when they go into the start of the Premier League season.
I think we would probably have been thinking we could do that at the start of this season, and obviously we’ve come nowhere near with our league form, but somehow we’ve managed to put ourselves in a position in the Europa League with some decent results and got ourselves to a semi-final.
It’s a big, tough ask, though, to beat Bilbao. I think the final being at their ground is a huge incentive for them. I would think they’re firm favourites going into that game.
It will save something from United’s season if they win the Europa League, though. I think that if we can get over the line in the Europa League and get Champions League football, then United fans are going to feel so much more invigorated.
Is Ruben Amorim the right man to end Manchester United’s wait for the Premier League title?
I think we have to wait to see what kind of stamp he puts on it. I think it’s very difficult to judge him this year with the team he’s got. He’s tried to change it to his own style and his own tactics and, as of now, that’s not worked.
He needs to bring in players that will be more comfortable in the system, and bring more character into the side. I think we’ve got to give him the amount of time that he deserves, and I think any manager would deserve, but he’s only going to get a certain time next season before people do start judging him.
What are the three key areas Manchester United need to strengthen in the summer transfer market?
The glaringly obvious position that Ruben Amorim needs to strengthen is centre-forward. We’ve been saying it for a number of years now. I think we missed out when Harry Kane became available.
We bought Rasmus Hojlund when he wasn’t the finished article, and the team really needed somebody who could guarantee them goals. It was a speculative deal, you could call it.
Another area that could be bolstered is the wide areas, the ones in the front three where Alejandro Garnacho has been playing. We’ve had a number of people playing there, including Mason Mount, Bruno Fernandes, and Antony, who’s now gone out on loan. I do think we need another wide player in the three because I don’t see Marcus Rashford coming back.
And then maybe Amorim’s got to look at the goalkeeper situation. There’s a lot of speculation about Onana. He had an indifferent season, and I thought he did well for the middle part, but he’s made some high-profile errors towards the end of the season.
Whether that’s an area to look at, I don’t know, but certainly I think in a wide area and a centre-forward is definitely what we need. We need the finished product to be leading the line, especially when he’s playing up front on his own. That has to be, for me, the No. 1 area to get right.
Do Manchester United need to add to their centre-back options this summer? Specifically, would you buy a replacement for Lisandro Martinez or hope he gets himself fit?
I would keep faith in Lisandro Martinez. He’s been blighted by injury, and when he came back from injury midway through the season, he didn’t really hit top form. Then he looked as though he was playing himself back into form, and he got injured again.
I think a fully fit Martinez and a confident Martinez is ideal for Amorim’s system to play on the left-hand-side of the three. I think he’s a terrific passer of the ball, he’s got good energy, he’s a good character, tough. I would stick with him and hope that he can stay fit.
I feel the same way about Mason Mount. I’m hoping he can stay fit as he’s been blighted by injury. Luke Shaw could also play left-sided centre-back, and it’s important that you have cover and bodies there. We see a lot of Premier League teams now struggling with injuries.
How many teams this year have had a good run without injuries? It seems like every Premier League side has been involved in some kind of injury battle with the players. I think that’s to do with the speed of the game and the amount of games that they play.
I think Leny Yoro’s doing really well at centre-back. I think he’s starting to come into his own now. I think we’re seeing more from him. I think he’s more attuned to the Premier League now and seems to be settling, and he’s showing a lot more confidence on the ball, and he’s still a young age.
I think Harry Maguire has still probably got another two or three years left in him as well, and he’s been terrific this year, coming back from the depths of despair that he was in about a year or so ago. Amorim’s got stuff to work with there.
Who should Manchester United’s three starting centre-backs be next season?
I’d play Lisandro Martinez as the left-sided centre-back. I would play Leny Yoro as the right-sided centre-back as he’s got the pace to cover in the wide areas, and then Amorim’s got a decision to make whether it will be Harry Maguire or Matthijs de Ligt.
I think they’re both more attuned to playing in the middle of the three, because I don’t think they’re blessed with great pace, but they read the game really well, and they’re confident on the ball.
So I would choose from either of those two, and then I think it’s about getting your wing backs sorted as well. Dorgu has had an alright start, Diogo Dalot has been there for a number of years and does a good job in there.
Luke Shaw’s hopefully going to come back from injury. Whether they stick with him or they feel as though the injuries are building up and they can’t trust him to play games, only they’ll see him day-to-day and know that.
I think a lot of it’s probably from that serious injury that he had seven years or so ago when he broke his ankle. There’s a lot of decisions there for Ruben to make over the summer. It’s a huge summer for Manchester United to try and start building the blocks to put us where we need to be, and that’s regularly challenging for Champions League football, and building a team that looks as though it can go on and challenge for a title. He’s probably not going to get all the pieces in place during one transfer window, but we certainly have to see an improvement in the league form.
What did you make of Tyler Fredricson against Bournemouth and his future at United?
Well, if somebody like Christian Eriksen’s suggesting that he’s really impressing the players then that probably speaks volumes. I don’t know a lot about him.
I saw the game against Wolves and he looked confident for a young lad, so that’s a good start at that age. If you can play in front of 70,000 and look comfortable in your surroundings then that speaks volumes. But we’re only watching a young kid starting out and he’s had a good debut, he’s had a piece of the action.
Once he’s played, he’ll want more. He’s potentially one for the future, but there’s such a long way to go when you’re trying to forge your career at somewhere like Manchester United. We’ve seen a lot of young kids coming into the team and doing spectacularly well.
We’ve also seen other kids who look world beaters at a young age but struggle to come to terms with the expectations. So he’s at the start of his journey, hopefully it’s a long one at Old Trafford, but there’s a lot of work still to be done.
Ayden Heaven has also impressed since coming into the first team at United. Do you believe he has what it takes to establish himself as a regular in the starting XI?
He’s got potential. He has made some errors, but you expect that from a young lad who is trying to come to terms with the expectations of playing for a club the size of Manchester United. He was at Arsenal before he arrived at Old Trafford, so he’s been at one huge club and come to an even bigger one.
I think he looks physically big enough to be able to handle the Premier League, quick enough to handle the Premier League, and the rest comes with playing games and getting experience. In terms of the future of Manchester United centre-backs with Yoro as well only being a young lad as well, I think we’ve got enough there to be quite happy with what we’ve got going into the next season.
Everybody’s challenging for places as well, and that creates a will in the players themselves to be the one that’s picked for that red shirt every weekend. So it’s good that we’ve got so many challenging and so many knocking at the door.
Manchester United have been linked to Wolves’ Matheus Cunha. Do you believe he has the ability to help transform the attack?
You’re watching him week in, week out for Wolves and, yes, he’s doing it in the Premier League.
Again, even for older players, we’ve seen it happen time and time again here – more experienced players have come and struggled with the expectation, the enormity of playing for a club like Manchester United and what it means. It can sometimes swallow up players. Certainly in terms of ability, he’s got a bit of an edge to him as well.
He’s a player who could come on leaps and bounds at Old Trafford. According to the papers, he’s the one that Ruben is looking at. I still think we need an out-and-out centre-forward, but he’s a player who can play in that role and create and cause havoc. I wouldn’t be upset if he was to arrive at Old Trafford in the summer.
Liam Delap is another forward who has been linked to United following the struggles in the forward line, should he be Amorim’s first choice or should the club be looking at more experienced options such as Kane, Osimhen & Gyokeres?
We need a centre-forward who knows the game, who’s got the experience. Liam Delap has done well in a club that has struggled all season, but you wouldn’t call him prolific.
He’s hard-working, leads the line and he’s got the potential, there’s no doubting that, but I don’t think you could call him the finished article. Is that where we want to go? Is it a long-term plan? Could you maybe get Delap and still look at another centre-forward? I don’t know.
That takes pressure of Rasmus Hojlund and lets him develop a little bit more, but I think we need a proven goalscorer, a proven centre-forward going into this next campaign, and I’m sure Ruben has probably got that top of his wish list.
He’s got the lad Gyokeres who he worked with at Sporting, who I saw quite a bit of in the Championship. I always wondered if he could do it in the Premier League. I’m not so sure, but he’s scoring goals.
He’s worked with him, so he’ll know if he’s capable of really impacting the Premier League, although there’s also talk of Arsenal being interested in him. I do think we need a ready-made centre-forward who has proven himself at the highest level.
Would you like to see Marcus Rashford be reintegrated into the first-team squad at United following his successful loan spell?
I think you’d have to be on the inside and know what the relationship is like between Rashford and Amorim. There’s a lot being said in the papers, obviously.
I remember him dropping Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho not so long after he came to the club and he said there’s a lot that both players have to do. I think we said for a long time that a player like Rashford playing in top form and playing with a hunger and desire for Manchester United is a magnificent player for us to watch.
You’d have to say the last few months he was at Old Trafford, he didn’t look happy – his body language told you that. I think the ball would be in Marcus’ court if he really wanted to come back to Old Trafford and play for his boyhood club.
Then, if you could have Marcus back with the attitude that made him the player that he is – or was – then I’m sure a lot of fans would be delighted to have him back.
But I think there’d have to be a lot of conversations between him and the manager and the coaching staff, and then see where it goes from there. I think if there’s an issue in that relationship, it’s hard to know which way they’re going to go with it.
Antony has also impressed during his loan spell at Real Betis. Is the summer the perfect time to sell him, or should Amorim give him a final chance at Old Trafford?
I think sometimes players are best suited a different type of football., and I don’t think he really enjoyed himself in the Premier League. I don’t feel like he suited it.
He had a great attitude in the games that I saw. He is predominantly one-footed, which, I think, when you’re playing out wide in the three, is not ideal. He didn’t want to be on his right foot.
He’s had over two years in the Premier League and has never really looked settled there, so it wouldn’t be any surprise to see him leaving as his stock’s gone up, because he’s really discovered some form at Real Betis. So I wouldn’t be surprised if they look to cash in.
Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho have been linked with moves away from Old Trafford – how important is it that United keep hold of their services? And if they are forced into selling one of them for financial reasons, who should it be?
I wouldn’t like to see either of them leave. I don’t think Kobbie has hit the heights he hit last year, including playing for England. I think that’s maybe to do with it being his second season, and he’s a young lad who really arrived with a bang.
He’s had injuries this year, and maybe they’ve been due to a little bit of burnout from his time with England over the summer and how he stood out with Manchester United.
So I think we’ve still got more to come from Kobbie. I think he’s got a good football brain, he’s got good energy, he can create goals. His work rate’s good, so I’d hate to see him go.
As for Garnacho, I think he’s still got improvements to make but he’s a threat. He’s still a young lad. We’ve relied on him quite a bit this season, so I wouldn’t like to see either leave, that’s for sure. He still needs to up his end product, but I don’t feel like it’d be right for either to go and would probably send the wrong message as well to the fans.
I don’t know what the financial constraints are. I don’t know how much we’re going to be sort of hamstrung by all that, but in football, if deals have to be done, then everybody’s vulnerable I suppose. But for myself, personally, I wouldn’t like to see either leave.
Roy Keane questioned Bruno Fernandes’ leadership qualities back in February. Do you believe the Portugal international is the right choice to be United captain?
Probably by default, in a way – I don’t see anybody else. You can’t go back to Harry Maguire. He’s already done it, but Harry is showing that he’s got the character to come through what he’s come through and still be playing at Old Trafford and having a really good season as well in that respect.
But listen, I don’t know where we’d be if we didn’t have Bruno Fernandes in the team. I think since he’s been here, he’s been exceptional. OK, he’s had little blips, but he plays every game. He plays with enthusiasm, energy and passion.
He’s probably not the kind of captain that leads by example with the way he goes on at referees and the way his frustration comes out. He’s probably not ideal in that respect, but I don’t know where else you go.
Martinez could possibly have been a captain because he’s got that character, but he’s not been in the first team enough. He wouldn’t have got it when he first arrived, but if he’d have been playing and playing well, then I would have said him. He would have made an ideal captain.
But I’m not going to sit here and say bad about Bruno because I think he’s been exceptional. I think he’s an exceptional player, and he’s been linked with Real Madrid recently. If he was to go somewhere like that, I think he’d be a superstar because I think he’s that good.
When Keane’s been talking about Fernandes, I think he’s just talking about pure capital material. I think, as a player, he scores goals, create goals, has got good energy, can see a pass. As I said, without him over the last few years, I really don’t know where Manchester United would be.
In recent years it seems like players have struggled with the move to Old Trafford. You made the switch from Middlesborough in 1989 – could you feel the added pressure from the first day walking into the club and what advice would you give any potential newcomers?
Probably not on the first day, although I walked in that dressing room and there’s Brian Robson. He’s ‘Captain Fantastic’, captain of England, ‘Captain Marvel’, whatever you want to call him. You’re like, ‘wow’. And there’s Mark Hughes sat in the other corner, and you’re like, ‘oh dear’. And Brian McClair’s in there, and Viv Anderson, and you’re going, ‘wow.’ I had these guys in my Subbuteo teams and stuff like that when I was a kid, and all of a sudden you’re sharing a dressing room and training with them and playing with them.
So I think that’s something to come to terms with in the early part, and then the realisation of how big the club is when you go away on tours and things like that.
I remember going away to Thailand, and all the people at the airport, it was like watching a scene from The Beatles when they were arriving as a pop band. You just can’t grasp how big the club is and what it means to so many people in other different parts of the world. That’s when you start to realise how big the club is, not just here in the UK, but globally, and what it means to so many people. So that maybe takes a bit of time to sink in. It’s all part of that pressure of playing for Manchester United.
If I was to give advice, it would be listening to the senior pros who were there, the likes of the Brian Robson and Viv Anderson, people who would chat to me on a regular basis when we used to have our team meetings. But that message would come across loud and clear, that you’re playing for a big club.
It’s a little bit different to anywhere else, and you’ve got to quickly adapt and find your feet and put the performances in to try and help your teammates, help the club, and forge a career there for yourself.
It was well noted that I struggled in the first few games when I went there for a record transfer because it’s dealing with that expectation of 50,000 there, week in, week out. You’re expected to entertain, score goals and win games, and in that early part it was kind of tough.
I think in that first season if we’d have got beat by Millwall, we’d have dropped into the bottom three. So I’ve been in this position at Manchester United and understand the kind of pressures and stress that the players are under.
But that’s when you need characters in the team. We had some big ones like Mark Hughes, Robbo, and Steve Bruce. We brought in Peter Schmeichel. Talking about characters, Roy Keane came in, and these guys had unbelievable characters when it came to playing football.
And maybe that’s something that’s not just lacking at Manchester United. I think you look at a lot of football clubs now in in the Premier League, and a lot of players, and I don’t see a lot of characters like John Terry, Tony Adams, Roy Keane, Paul Ince, Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit.
I don’t see those kind of characters playing Premier League football anymore. Manchester United are certainly missing that kind of player.
Middlesborough have a slim chance of making the playoffs, do you believe it’s been a disappointing season if they don’t make the top six?
Yeah, I do. I felt as though we had a good chance of reaching the play-offs this season. Our form, after a poor start to the season, was really good. I went on record saying we’re playing the best football in the Championship around Christmas time.
Then we got a few injures, sold Emmanuel Latte Lath, and the team have struggled to get to the heights that they did. We do look fragile at the moment. I know we’ve had injuries and they’ve maybe taken their toll, but that’s happening a lot in football at the moment.
That’s what I’d suggest, if I had to put my finger on what’s gone wrong, because we did look so good around that period of timebut we’ve only got an outside chance of making the play-offs now.
You’d have to feel as though Sheffield United would be the team to go through. They look stronger mentally compared to the teams that will be in the play-offs.
So we’ve all got a bit of hope, and we’re still hoping that things work out at the weekend and that we can get ourselves in there. Once you’re in there, you’ve got a chance, you’ve got a sniff, but I don’t think a betting man would be putting money on Middlesbrough to get through right now.
Will Michael Carrick be under pressure for how this season has gone, and do you think the club should stick with him?
I think Michael’s got a great future in management. The Championship is such a tough division to get out of.
Teams coming down have got parachute payments, Burnley and Leeds have been getting parachute payments, so it makes it a bit easier for them to bring in the quality you need to get out of the division.
I think they’ll stick with Carrick, though, and give him another chance next season if we don’t make it into the playoffs this year. But if we get off to a bad start, then his position could potentially be under threat.
I think he’s a clever lad who wants to do well in management, and if we give him a another chance to have a strong start to next season, then hopefully he can get us to the promised land.
