Following Paul Scholes' assessment that Manchester United "still look a little way off Manchester City ", Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has spoken about the need for the Red Devils to continue making "progress step by step".
Speaking ahead of United's upcoming game against Burnley, Solskjaer said that his side would "never give up" on the possibility of beating City to the league title this season but he admitted it was 'unrealistic'.
"Of course we'll never give up," he said. "This club has had too many great comebacks. Is it realistic? No, probably not. When you have a team that is so consistent as Man City, you don't expect them to lose 3 games of the last 6. We want to finish the season strong.
"Second place is not the end game – the end game is winning the league. But we are not in the era of Sir Alex. We've had a transformation period since he left. He was the boss. It's progress step by step. Do that well enough you get trophies, which is our ambition."
Speaking on BT Sport, Scholes stated that he felt United need to sign a new striker in order to take that next step and truly challenge City in the league, saying: "I think so. Champions League, perhaps, but it's more the Premier League they're looking for at this moment in time.
"They haven't really challenged for it for a few years now. OK they're second this season but they still look a little way off Manchester City.
"What do they have to do next season? I think a centre-forward is the priority. I think they have got very good forwards but is one of them a centre forward?
"If you take Cavani out of it, is one of them a real centre forward? Is Marcus Rashford, Mason Greenwood, Anthony Martial a real centre forward? They look better to me in wide areas.
"Cavani we know, with his great experience, but again I think Manchester United have had around 50 games this year and he's only started 15 games. That's not a lot to rely on a centre-forward.
"He's a brilliant centre-forward, his goalscoring record is amazing. Can they keep him for another year and maybe delay it [the decision to sign a striker] for another year?
"Maybe. But eventually they're going to have to try and sign a top-class centre-forward. There's a couple out there that may be available. I don't know what the situation is. it's going to cost a lot of money, we know that."
