Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has warned any Manchester United players who get complacent will be shipped out of the club.
Solskjaer inherited a 26-man first-team squad upon his caretaker appointment on December 19 and has already sold Marouane Fellaini and decided against triggering the one-year option in club captain Antonio Valencia's contract.
Valencia, 33, will be released and Matteo Darmian and Marcos Rojo are among the likely departures in the summer transfer window. Now Solskjaer has been installed as United's permanent manager on a three-year contract, there have been suggestions certain players who performed upon his arrival three months ago could suffer a lull. Solskjaer stressed if there was a drop-off in performance they would not last long at Old Trafford.
"Players who get complacent never last at this club," Solskjaer warned. "Managers are the same, I can't be complacent and rest on now I've got a job, we're looking forward, we've got to work harder, I've got some targets, I would want a Man United team that is one of the hardest working teams in the league, the fittest teams in the league, and that then will bring results, I think the players know my expectations on the future."
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United's title drought will extend beyond six years this season and Solskjaer's initial target is to secure a top four finish so the club hosts Champions League football again next season. Although that is the short-term aim, his main challenge is to regain the Premier League crown he lifted six times as a player.
"Definitely, of course," Solskjaer stressed. "To lift the Premier League trophy again is what we expect and what we are used to and it’s what we have done so many times.
"We can’t wait for too many years, but we have to take it step by step, it’s not like it’s going to happen overnight, catching 15 or 16 or 17 points or whatever. We are behind the top teams now."
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