Manchester United

Gary Neville: 'Pieces still missing in Manchester United jigsaw'

By Joe Fish, Reporter | 25 August 2014

Gary Neville stresses that his former club Manchester United need to follow up their signing of Angel di Maria by bringing in a central midfielder and defender.

The signing of Angel di Maria will only address some of the problems currently hindering Manchester United, according to former Old Trafford captain Gary Neville.

Argentine international Di Maria is expected to complete a British-record transfer from Real Madrid in the coming days, after a reported £59.7m fee was agreed.

Neville is excited by the arrival of the winger, but has stressed that United need to continue to do business to solve their two weakest positions - central midfield and defence - and add depth of quality to the squad.

Versatile Netherlands international Daley Blind has been tipped to follow Di Maria to Manchester.

"United need a robust central midfield player and they also need a centre-back of real stature," he told Sky Sports News. "I would say that's still a priority. This is one part of a jigsaw that's still got pieces missing.

"Blind is a left-side centre-back you would think, or a left-back or a left wing-back. They've got [Luke] Shaw, they've got [Marcos] Rojo but you would think that they're going to need three players for that side of the pitch anyway.

"Historically, Man United have had 22-23 players in the squad. If you look at that Man City team tonight and the bench, the Chelsea squad - the players on the bench. Don't worry that you've got too many quality players that you won't be able to fit in. You'll need them over a season of 40-50 games. The fact that they're filling the squad with the better high level quality of player that can run is more exciting for Man United."

United have picked up just one point from their opening two Premier League games under Louis van Gaal.