Gary Neville has defended Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, after the Manchester United manager appeared to suggest he would "exploit" other clubs in the transfer market amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Solskjaer had delivered a warning for their Premier League rivals on Wednesday by insisting that the Red Devils are ready to have an ambitious summer.
Prior to the enforced break from football due to the COVID-19 outbreak, United were locked in a battle with Chelsea and several other clubs in the race to finish in the Premier League top four and secure Champions League football.
With nine games remaining in the season, United sit fifth, three points behind Frank Lampard's Chelsea, who currently occupy fourth spot ahead of the Red Devils, Wolves, Sheffield United, Tottenham and Arsenal.
But United are not just battling it out with Chelsea and Arsenal for a top four spot, with both clubs strongly linked with some of the same players ahead of the summer transfer window.
That includes Borussia Dortmund star Jadon Sancho and Birmingham City teenager Jude Bellingham, with United and Chelsea among the potential suitors for the two young players.
United have also been linked with a move for Bayern Munich midfielder Corentin Tolisso, who is reportedly on Arsenal's radar.
And Solskjaer fired a warning to their rivals, when asked by former United defender Gary Neville whether the Red Devils would spend big in the next transfer window to try and close the gap on the teams above them.
In response, Solskjaer told the Sky Sports pundit : "Well, football is going to get back to normality at some point, and it's very important that we're ready when that happens and we want to be the best at everything.
"And of course now is a chance, you spend more time, you discuss players, you discuss plans, we've evaluated what we need, of course with the coaching staff.
"We've looked at games, evaluated games and discussed between ourselves on video calls.
"The market, who knows how the market is going to react to this? Who knows which clubs need to sell players? And there might be just a situation here that happens that you can exploit.
"I'm sure we are capable, when we get back to normality, that we can do the business that we want to."
However, Neville later clarified Solskjaer's comments after the United boss received criticism for his "exploit" comment.
Neville replied to a tweet from a journalist and wrote: "Hi James Ole repeated the word I used in the question.
"The word shouldn’t have been used by me."
