Alan Shearer believes Manchester United are 'three or four players' away from challenging for the Premier League title next season.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was named permanent manager at Old Trafford last week after the Reds bridged the 11-point gap to the top four under his guidance since Jose Mourinho was sacked on December 18.
The announcement came on the back of consecutive defeats - the first under Solskjaer - but United bounced back against Watford on Saturday with an uninspiring 2-1 victory.
The three-game run perhaps highlighted the need for reinforcement in the summer, and Shearer, the Premier League's record scorer, feels it is a case of quality over quantity for United when the window opens.
"I think three or four players and they won't be that far away," he said on the BBC's Match of the Day. It will be tough to close that gap [to City and Liverpool] but they'll be somewhere they want to be."
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Fellow pundit Martin Keown was quizzed on the same topic and said the Reds should prioritise acquisitions in defence and midfield.
"We know he (Solskjaer) will be given money to spend," he said.
"Central defence is certainly a position, Herrera hasn’t signed his contract in midfield, perhaps a midfielder, and definitely a right-back.
"Ashley Young is getting on in years so definitely a right-back. They’re not far away. This is a team in the quarter-finals of the Champions League so it’s not wholesale changes but it’s going to be expensive."
