Ole Gunnar Solskjær wants Manchester United to be a Champions League force again within two years.
The Norwegian’s side can return to the top four for the first time since the opening weekend if they win at Fulham in Saturday’s early game, though this may be for only 24 hours. United then host Paris Saint-Germain in next Tuesday’s Champions League last-16 first leg but they are not considered strong contenders to claim their fourth European Cup.
However, when speaking of his vision for where United should be in two years’ time Solskjær said the club must be “relevant” again in Europe.
“That is what we have to strive for,” the caretaker manager said. “If we don’t dream and we don’t have that vision of where we are going then we will just falter. So for us, or me, I am only used to this club challenging for trophies, so that is where I see us.”
Although he may not be appointed the permanent No 1, Solskjær has a picture of United’s ideal future. “Challenging for every trophy there is, of course,” he said. “That’s what we should be about. We have to move slowly because we are fifth at the moment, we’ve been sixth [for so long] and it seemed we were never going to move away from that sixth position.
“There are six very, very good teams and all [able to] challenge for the trophies. But we’ve got the resources and the infrastructure and the history to move towards the top and that is the only way we should think about things at Manchester United.”
Next term may be too soon to compete domestically as well as in Europe, the Norwegian suggested. “Next year? You always hope, of course,” he said. I came to Molde [as manager], they were [11th] in 2010, and in 2011 we won the league, so you can never say never. I think we’re too far behind this year, obviously.
“You’ve got to catch up the other teams ahead of us, especially [Manchester] City, Liverpool but now Tottenham – they’re really in the running as well. So obviously there are three teams who have been far ahead but we’ve beaten Tottenham [1-0 away] so we know that we’re capable of that but we need the consistency.
“Two years’ time is long enough, but also short enough, to say that we’ve got the possibility to make a big difference in our preparation, in everything.”
Solskjær believes United may not need to add a number of new players to progress. “I think it is about who we’ve got here as well,” the Norwegian said. “If every single player can improve by one or two per cent [that’s good]. It is not about X amount of [new] players, it has to be the right one and one who fits. The personality has to fit with the team, it is not just buying a superstar and that will fix things and suddenly we go from challenging to being top four and be champions.”