Rio Ferdinand is adamant Manchester United have overtaken Liverpool once again following the latest Premier League season.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side finished second in the standings, behind only champions Manchester City, and five points ahead of a Liverpool side who mustered a measly defence of their crown.
Both teams have high expectations for next season, as they look to compete for the Premier League title once again, and are set to be rivals in the hunt for silverware.
While each of the teams ended the season without lifting a trophy, with United suffering defeat in the Europa League final, Ferdinand believes Solskjaer's side have leapfrogged Jurgen Klopp's men.
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"I think in the league we’ve got what we wanted, which was an improvement," he told Goal. "I think Man United at the end of last season finished 30-odd points behind Liverpool. Liverpool are now behind us and they’ll have their excuses and reasons why but the cold facts are that we have gained that much ground on them that we’ve gone past them this season.
"That shows vast improvement and we’re second in the league. By no means are we the finished article but I think at the beginning of the season if you’d said you’d finish second in the league from where we were I think they’d have snapped your hand off."
United and Liverpool are both set to strengthen their squads in the transfer window ahead of next season.
The transfer window officially opens on June 9, with the fixture announcement for the 2021/22 Premier League season due the following week on Wednesday, June 16.
The hope is that fans will be able to return to stadiums by the start of the new season, following the European Championship.
