Gary Neville names three ‘dream’ and ‘realistic’ signings for Man Utd

Gary Neville has picked out Sandro Tonali, Elliot Anderson and Ezri Konsa as three ‘realistic’ signings he would like to see Manchester United make in the summer transfer window.

United focused on bolstering their misfiring attack last summer, with Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko arriving through the doors at Old Trafford for a combined fee of around £200million.

In goal, Senne Lammens was brought in from Royal Antwerp in an £18million deal, a sum that now looks like a snip on the basis of the Belgian’s promising debut season following two error-strewn years for Andre Onana.

United’s recruitment has been widely praised by fans and pundits alike, with all four new recruits contributing and showing real promise, even before the club’s remarkable resurgence under interim boss Michael Carrick.

But attentions have already begun to turn towards the summer transfer market – and United bosses have identified central midfield as their priority with a view to further strengthening their squad for the 2026/27 campaign.

England duo Adam Wharton and Anderson remain players of interest for United’s engine room – and Neville has been particularly impressed by the latter’s form for Nottingham Forest.

The former United right-back would also welcome a bid to sign Newcastle’s Tonali, a player Rio Ferdinand recently named as his ‘first-choice’ target for the Red Devils.

Asked to reveal his three ideal targets for United this summer, Neville told Sky Sports: ‘If you said three, I’d want two midfield players and a centre-half. If you said to me a top centre-half and two good midfield players, that’s what this squad needs right now.

‘To be fair, it does need other things after that, but I would say, to me, they dealt with the wide areas [last summer].

‘They’ve got Amad [Diallo], [Bryan] Mbeumo, [Matheus] Cunha, [Mason] Mount who can play there a little bit, so I’m actually okay with that.

‘I think No.10s with Mount and Bruno Fernandes… Bruno plays there every week, he’s reliable, so I’d say there’s no problem there.

‘It’s two central midfield players and definitely a centre-half, we need a top centre-half.

‘Dream world, it would be Marquinhos, [Declan] Rice and [Harry] Kane. Realistic, I’m going Tonali, Anderson and I’m going Konsa.’

Neville sees no reason why United should not be challenging for the Premier League title this season, especially with questions hanging over Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City future and the 115 charges.

‘Why not? Liverpool aren’t ahead them at the moment in the pecking order, neither are Chelsea, neither are Aston Villa,’ Neville – who won eight titles with the Red Devils – said.

‘But Manchester United haven’t had to cope with Champions League football or cup competitions this season, so there’s a massive advantage there.

‘However, I think it will come down to: how does this Arsenal team deal with winning or losing the league? We don’t know what’s going to happen there.

‘That could be a case of: they [Arsenal] have won it, can they win it back-to-back? Difficult. If they haven’t won it, how are they going to recover and what’s going to happen there?

‘The big question is here [at Manchester City]. Two things… Pep Guardiola and the 115 charges. What’s going to happen with those charges? Are they going to get a big points deduction if found guilty of some of the more serious offences? So they’re two big questions.

‘If Manchester City were to get a big points deduction or Pep Guardiola leaves, and you’ve got Arsenal reeling from not winning it, I would say Manchester United are in with a right chance.’

United return to action in what promises to be an intriguing clash with Liverpool at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon.

After back-to-back defeats of Chelsea and Brentford, the Red Devils should be brimming with confidence, and victory over their bitter rivals would send the club six points clear of Arne Slot’s side in the table.

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