Nemanja Matic admits Manchester United need to sign 'a few more players' to challenge for Premier League title

Matic suggested the only way to push for next season's title was to invest in more players once the summer transfer window opens

Samuel Lovett
Sunday 20 May 2018 17:03 BST
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Nemanja Matic looks on after defeat at Wembley
Nemanja Matic looks on after defeat at Wembley (Getty)

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Nemanja Matic has admitted that Manchester United need to recruit “a few more players” during the coming summer transfer window in order to mount a genuine challenge for next season’s title.

United ended the season trophy-less following Saturday’s 1-0 defeat by Chelsea in the FA Cup final, a result which saw the side’s campaign end on a sour note.

Despite finishing second in the Premier League, a 19-point gap separated Jose Mourinho’s men from champions Manchester City in a damning indicator of the difference in quality between the two teams.

Speaking in the wake of Saturday’s defeat at Wembley, Matic suggested that the only way to bridge this gap was to invest in more players once the transfer window opens.

“We need a few more players in the squad and then we can fight for the title and hopefully we can do that,” he said.

Of United’s defeat, the midfielder argued that the result came down to “one mistake”, adding that his side “deserved more” from the match.

“We had one mistake with the goal but we played good football for the whole 90 minutes,” he said. “I think we deserved more but this is football with one mistake, sometimes you can lose the game and this is what happened to us. But I am happy for the team and how we played so I hope next time we will have more luck.

“I’m not disappointed but we tried. We played against a very good squad and they were very well organised so it wasn’t easy to create chances.

“We did have chances which we didn’t convert and to win games you have to score goals. But as I said, we deserved more.”

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