Signing Grealish not enough for Man Utd to catch Man City - Giggs

Ryan Giggs wants to see Manchester United sign Jack Grealish, but he believes his old side are still “three or four players” away from challenging neighbours Manchester City.

Even during City’s own disappointing campaign, they started the weekend 15 points clear of United in the Premier League table.

The size of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s rebuilding job is clear and he is expected to be busy in the upcoming summer/autumn transfer window.

Grealish has been heavily linked along with the likes of Jadon Sancho and Donny van de Beek.

"I mean, if a quality player like that comes available, United are going to be [interested],” Giggs told Premier League Productions of Grealish.

"He looks like a United player, he takes the ball, he attracts loads of fouls.”

However, what United really need, according to Giggs, is a new striker.

Anthony Martial has 16 goals to his name in all competitions but has little real competition for a starting place.

Marcus Rashford has been enjoying playing on the left, and Mason Greenwood is still only 18.

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Fans have taken to Odion Ighalo but the Nigeria international is 31 and hasn’t yet scored a goal against a Premier League side for United.

"I would say that we definitely need a centre-forward,” Giggs said.

"Someone who, if a team is deep, is going to play deep and be on the end of those passes, crosses and score 25 goals.

"I still think if we're going to catch City, we're three or four players short.

"But [it's] definitely exciting and promising with Bruno [Fernandes] and [Paul] Pogba coming into the team."

There were signs of promise in the Fernandes-Pogba partnership against Tottenham on Friday night.

After Pogba was brought on for the last half an hour, he won a penalty from Spurs’ Eric Dier which was confidently dispatched by Fernandes.

Fernandes put in another assured performance while Pogba showed signs of being back near his best form, with one perfectly weighted cross-field pass to Marcus Rashford drawing admiring comments on social media.

United’s next game is a home fixture with fellow Europa League challengers Sheffield United on Wednesday.