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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Joe Bray

Graeme Souness outlines two major decisions Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer must make after Barcelona defeat

Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer must make two major changes to his squad this summer after seeing his side crash out of the Champions League to Barcelona, according to Graeme Souness.

United were soundly beaten across two legs by Barcelona by an aggregate score of 4-0, and attention now turns to securing Champions League football again next season.

Solskjaer was given the permanent manager position after guiding his side to a last-16 victory against PSG, but form has dipped since that remarkable comeback win in Paris.

And Souness, speaking on Virgin Media Sport, indicated that improving the squad to compete with the likes of Barcelona was not an easy task.

When asked what changes had to be made at United to get them back to the top level, he cheekily responded: "What time are we off air tonight?”

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But when he expanded on his answer, he named Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku as the two big decisions facing Solskjaer in the summer transfer market.

He explained: "He’s got major decisions. Pogba obviously is a major one, Lukaku’s a major one.

“I would sell [Pogba] if you got your money back. That’s a real shock to you, that’s a real shock to you.

“If you get anywhere near your money back I’d sell him. If the boy wants to go, let him go.

“When you’re in that situation it’s very difficult. Those boys are on monster wages. It’s alright saying ‘we’ll sell them’ but they won’t leave and go for less money anywhere else.

“So you’d be having to pay them to go, taking an enormous hit on the transfer fee you paid for me. This is not an easy situation they find themselves in.

“It’s obvious after this [defeat] that Ole has a monster job on his hands. It will not be solved in one transfer window.”

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