Man Utd ‘will go over Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s head’ for big transfer decisions EXCLUSIVE

That is the belief of Norwegian football analyst Ben Wells, who has studied Solskjaer’s Molde side over the last three seasons.

Solskjaer, who spent 11 years of his playing career at Old Trafford, was appointed interim boss last week following the sacking of Jose Mourinho.

The Norwegian’s contract expires at the end of the season, when he is expected to resume his post as manager of Molde.

The 45-year-old has, however, expressed his desire to secure the United job full-time, despite acknowledging he is a short-term fix for the club.

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Nevertheless, Solskjaer made clear in his first press conference after taking the helm that he will have a say in any transfer activity during the January window, which opens next week.

“I will have an input, of course,” he told the media.

“The job now is to get to know the players, observe them and see the qualities we’ve got.

“The club have got their recruitment and scouting, so I’m sure they’ve got their targets. But I’ve not sat down and talked about that, because my job is to get these players enjoying football.”

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Wells, who watches every Eliteserien game as an analyst for FootballRadar, is not convinced the United legend will bestow such weight in recruitment discussions, though.

Speaking about the winter window, Wells told Express Sport: “It wouldn’t surprise me if there were signings, but I can’t imagine they would go via Solskjaer.

“He might have a final say, but a lot of it would go over his head beforehand. It’ll be intriguing to see how they do back him. It does matter to an extent if he’s going to get anything out of the team.”

As for which positions Solskjaer would identify as areas for improvement, Wells added: “Obviously United need a defender.

“But, historically, especially with Molde, he’s not gone out of his way to sign top quality centre-halves or full-backs.

“I do think that, as an outsider, United have more than enough in attack for Solskjaer to work with.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if he looked to bring in a midfielder; a more attack-minded midfielder. At Molde he played with guys who were given licence to get forward, take shots from outside the box.

“But at the same time, the board will more likely push for a defender, if that’s the issue.”