Gary Neville has called for Manchester United to copy Liverpool's recruitment policy.
The former United defender urged Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to look what the Reds have done in recent transfer windows to transform themselves into serious title contenders.
Jurgen Klopp's men have five wins out of five at the start of the new Premier League season whereas United started with a 4-0 victory over Chelsea but have since mustered up two draws, an embarrassing loss to Crystal Palace and a recent narrow win against Leicester.
"The problem with United's team is not the five young players on the pitch," Neville told Sky Sports Monday Night football.
"The spine of the team is [David] De Gea, [Victor] Lindelof, [Harry] Maguire, [Nemanja] Matic, [Ashley] Young, [Juan] Mata. All the young players have massive potential.
"Manchester United somehow have got to find a spine. All championship winning teams have strong spines.
"Liverpool's spine has come from [Virgil] Van Dijk at £75million, [Roberto] Firmino's £30million, Alisson, a fantastic goalkeeper, and Fabinho. The recruitment has got to be good to support these players.
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"Liverpool bought Van Dijk, Fabinho and Alisson and they were transformed overnight. Manchester United get the right three players in that group and they won't be far away.
"I've been so critical of the recruitment in recent years. They've got to stop that. It looks like they've gone back to a strategy of signing young,' he added.
"United's average age has gone down to 24, there are eight academy players in the squad. It's a step backward but it's one to go forward.'
"[Radamel] Falcao, [Angel] Di Maria, [Bastian] Schweinsteiger and [Alexis] Sanchez. They've spent and wasted tens and hundreds of millions of pounds on these players. They've got to stop that.
"United are basically going to have to have three or four good transfer windows."
