Paul Scholes says next year a "bit early" for Manchester United title challenge

Paul Scholes came out of retirement in 2012 to win the title again with Manchester United

Paul Scholes believes Manchester United are not ready to mount a Premier League title challenge next season. He sees Luis van Gaal re-building the club but feels he is still falling short of making the Red Devils title contenders in their next campaign.

“I'd be looking at Champions League again for next year,” Scholes stated. “I think it's probably a bit early to challenge for the league.

“We know Chelsea will buy two or three players and you have to say they have been a long way ahead this year.

“Arsenal have looked good and if they buy a couple I don't think they will be far away. You have to say Manchester City will spend a lot of money as well, so there's a lot of catching up to be done and a lot of money to be spent. We can't afford to buy potential. We have to buy ready-made players.

The United legend also pointed out that the club need to bring in strong and experienced personnel in defence. Having let go of Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra and Nemanja Vidic, there were no good replacements that were brought in to take their place.

He said: “You look at Evra, Vidic and Ferdinand, and in their prime they were fit all the time.

“They were really big characters but when you come to the end of your time at United you have to accept that.

“There are other people there that need to step up to the plate, and have they done that? I'm not too sure. Chris Smalling and Phil Jones have been injured far too often to get a good run going and it's difficult when you can't pick the same back four. You look now and you wonder who the back four is going to be.

Scholes did admit that Van Gaal has done the job this season for United despite having criticised the Dutch manager earlier this season.

“He has got in the top four and that was his first aim,” he said. “We would like to have been challenging for the title, but you have to give this manager time to settle in.

“If we are going to challenge for the league next season, we still have to sign a lot of players.”