Ralf Rangnick has declared Manchester United "do not have enough players" - despite admitting he will struggle to hand every squad member the minutes they seek.
The German tactician, 63, is beginning to get to grips with the stars at his disposal after his appointment as interim manager on Monday last week.
Rangnick led the Red Devils to a 1-0 Premier League victory over Crystal Palace on Sunday with a full-strength side before rotating heavily and drawing 1-1 with Young Boys in the Champions League three days later.
The former RB Leipzig supremo is famous for being a masterful sporting director as well a talented coach, and he will take on a consultancy role at Old Trafford when his six-month managerial stint ends.
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As such, Rangnick is sure to contribute to the club's transfer planning considerably and he is already believed to have drawn up a four-man shortlist of targets.
However, United spent north of £120million over the summer to sign Jadon Sancho, Raphael Varane and Cristiano Ronaldo, so they may not be able to spend lavishly in the winter window.
Rangnick has inherited a bloated squad from predecessor Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and there are already players discontent at a lack of game time, with Anthony Martial pushing for a January exit due to his dearth of opportunities.
The interim boss acknowledges he has a "big squad" at his fingertips, but he also informed United's owners, the Glazer family, of the need to strengthen.
"I’ve got to know them better in this week, I saw most of them play in the two games and had three, four or five training sessions this week," Rangnick said on Friday.
"But it’s still too early to speak about what might happen in the winter transfer window. If I look at the number of players we have, it’s still a big squad, we definitely do not have not enough players."
Rangnick also confirmed he is willing to loan out members of the squad who are not happy with their situation, adding: "We need to make sure that players want to stay here.
"If they see not getting enough game time here, it might make sense to speak individually with the players to see if a loan deal might make sense. But, right now, it’s still too early to speak about that."
Having made wholesale changes to his starting XI to face Young Boys in midweek, Rangnick is expected to name a first-choice line-up against Norwich on Saturday.
