Paul Ince believes Manchester United would be "kidding themselves" to think they would be on a par with Liverpool in the next couple of years.
United legend and Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville claimed last week he was confident the Old Trafford side could challenge for the title next season, pointing to the disruption caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
Liverpool, the current European and world champions, are a record 25 points clear at the Premier League summit and need only two more wins from their remaining nine games to clinch their first title since 1990.
By contrast, United are in danger of missing out on Champions League qualification through league placing by standing in fifth place, a mammoth 37 points behind the Reds.
And former United and Liverpool skipper Ince has questioned the perspective that the gap will be closed inside 12 months.
"It will take a long time to catch up and if anyone at Old Trafford thinks it can be done in a couple of years with some big-money signings, they are kidding themselves," said Ince, speaking to Planet Football.
"There has been a lot of damage caused by the instability at the club over the last six years and at the same time, Liverpool have had stability, especially since Klopp came in.
"Liverpool have had a plan, they stuck to it even when things didn’t go great for Klopp in his first year and now they are getting the rewards.
"At United, managers have come and gone, they’ve had their own ideas on players, spent fortunes on terrible signings.
"Because of that they found themselves 30 points behind Liverpool at the halfway point of the season, which is embarrassing for a club of United’s stature."
Neville had said: "If we hadn’t had this virus, I think Manchester United could’ve been two or three years away.
"I feel a little more confident in Manchester United’s ability to challenge next season just because of what’s happened, and the fact they started to play a lot better before this lockdown."
