Sign any two of these six players, and the title could be headed to Old Trafford for the first time since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson.

Sign any two of these six players, and the title could be headed to Old Trafford for the first time since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson.

Gary Neville once said, "I say it every year, whoever recruits best, wins the league”. 

Last year Chelsea were bolstered by the recruitment of N’Golo Kante and Antonio Conte while this year their signings of Antonio Rudiger and Tiemoué Bakayoko have bolstered their ranks – in the absence of Diego Costa, they do, though, need a world-class striker if they are to have any chance of retaining the title.

Jose Mourinho, meanwhile, said Manchester United’s summer purchase status was at half-done. They’ve already signed the promising Victor Lindelof from Benfica and the belligerent Romelu Lukaku from Everton (from right under Chelsea’s noses to boot) but two more signings and the deal could be sealed – so we look at six players who would fit the bill perfectly at United.

Meet them in the GALLERY below:

06. Eric Dier 

Current Club: Tottenham Hotspur

Potential impact of transfer: 6/10

Likelihood of transfer: 5/10

Possessing a unique style of his own – something he himself calls a cross between Portuguese and English sides – it’s understandable that Jose Mourinho looks

favourably

at the midfielder as he’s the kind of player – versatile, good on the ball – that the Portuguese manager loves having in his squad. 

Dier’s presence would free up Ander Herrera, and more importantly, Paul Pogba – the world’s most expensive player could then begin to show the rest of the world just what all the fuss is about.
 

05. Fabinho

Current Club: Monaco

Potential impact of transfer: 6/10

Likelihood of transfer: 5/10

The Brazilian having once said “My objective is to get to a club with the dimension of Manchester United. I have no clue if one day I'll be a United player, but I'll keep working so it stops being a rumour and becomes reality” it’s clear he’s interested in the

move

, but with Bakayoko already having been sold it’s unlikely Monaco will want to sell his central midfield partner in the same window.

Fabinho scored a quite amazing 11 goals in 50 games for Monaco during their sensational last season. 

04. Neymar

Current Club: FC Barcelona

Potential impact of transfer: 10/10

Likelihood of transfer: 2/10

There have been ample

rumours  linking the Brazillian playmaker to Old Trafford. In a manner of speaking, with Neymar, United could build either a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1; or even a 3-4-3 with Neymar in his usual habitat of the left attacking third, Romelu Lukaku the sharp end of the spear whilst Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, Juan Mata, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Jesse Lingard would vie for the remaining attacking spots.  

03. Ivan Perisic

Current Club: Internazionale Milano

Potential impact of transfer:7/10

Likelihood of transfer: 7/10 

With United’s aerial ability supplemented by the addition of Romelu Lukaku, who although not an Andy Caroll or Christian Benteke kind of player, may genuinely thrive off good delivery and the presence of Marouane Fellaini and Paul Pogba (both great in the air), Perisic may be able to provide United with an all-new attacking facet – especially against teams that sit deep and invite them on. 

02. Nemanja Matic

Current Club: Chelsea

Potential impact of transfer: 8/10

Likelihood of transfer: 6/10 

For those questioning why Matic is so high up the list – this man is the perfect Mourinho central midfielder. Strong, tall, powerful in the air and decent on the ball (the Serb has an underrated passing ability), there’s a reason Mourinho asked the Chelsea board to eat humble-pie and go back to Benfica to sign him (the Portuguese giants meanwhile made a neat 24 million Euro profit off the deal).

A midfield three of Pobga-Matic-Herrera sounds like a winning combination, right?

01. Gareth Bale

Current Club: Real Madrid

Potential impact of transfer: 10/10

Likelihood of transfer: 4/10 

Strong, powerful in the air, fast, and possessed of an absolute thunderbolt of a shot, the Welshman would be the perfect replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo and at 28-years old, he’s at the very top of his game. 

He could line up on the right side of a 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1 or a 3-4-3, but as he showed with Tottenham Hotspur he also has the ability to play behind the striker... so if United go with a 3-5-2 like they did for the second half of their exhibition match against the LA Galaxy, he could even line up alongside Romelu Lukaku!