Former Liverpool centre-back Jamie Carragher has stressed the importance of Manchester United giving it everything in their quest to win the Premier League title this season, suggesting that if they fall short it is a huge failure.
United, who get their campaign under way at home to Leeds United on Saturday lunchtime, are expected to make a concrete push for the title this season after landing Jadon Sancho for £72.9 million from Borussia Dortmund and will announce the signing of Raphael Varane from Real Madrid.
Their arrivals will significantly boost two key areas within manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's squad, meaning the pressure is now on him to ensure that he can get a winning tune out of his team.
With that comes pressure, of course. But for Carragher that is just part and parcel of what United are all about as a club, insisting that the time has come for the Old Trafford outfit to launch a real push for the title.
"Solskjaer is entering his third full season at Old Trafford now and the club have backed him with a new three-year contract, so it's time United really went for the league," Carragher said, writing in his column for The Telegraph.
"That has to be the expectation, the belief. It's no good thinking anything else. Real Madrid or Bayern Munich would not expect any less and Manchester United absolutely consider themselves to be in that bracket of club.
"You can't downgrade ambition at clubs like that."
Having moved one step closer towards competing for the title last term by finishing second, United are going to be expected by many to make that next step this time around.
Although the squad has been bolstered with the signing of Sancho, Carragher believes United's transition period has now come to an end and that they should be making a big push this season to go for English football's ultimate prize.
"United got themselves into a position to challenge for the title last season and then crumbled from January onwards," Carragher added
"We're about to see if he (Solskjaer) himself has that X-factor – the buzzword United often use to describe players – to help the team to take the next step they absolutely must.
"They finished second and were unbeaten away from home last season but they've got to go one better.
"I think Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp would be confident of winning the title with this United squad. They have £50million-plus players all over the pitch. United have the most expensive starting XI in the Premier League at just over £500 million, a shade more than what Manchester City's best team cost even with £100 million Jack Grealish in the side.
"It's a good and expensively assembled squad. There should be real pressure on United to deliver this season.
"They have been through a period of transition, but that talk has to stop now."
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