Manchester United midfielder Nemanja Matic, 32, warned the Old Trafford club that there would be no excuses if they failed to mount a Premier League title challenge during the 2020/21 season. Last season, United finished third in the Premier League, earning UEFA Champions League football but finished 33 points adrift of champions Liverpool and 15 points adrift of second placed Manchester City. The Serbian midfielder lifted the Premier League title twice with Chelsea and believes that United must challenge Liverpool’s dominance.
Matic recently earned himself a new contract at United based on his performances this season, which saw him return to the best of his ability despite him largely being rested at the end of the season. The new contract keeps him at United until the summer of 2023. During the 2019/20 season, Matic made a total of 34 appearances for United, scoring one goal and three assists. He has a lot of passion for the club and wants to achieve things, matching what he achieved at Chelsea.
The Serbian midfielder, who retired from international duty this week was quoted by The Mirror saying that United had no excuse to most a title challenge this season, saying:
“From the next season there is no excuse. We have to go with everything. We have to fight for the title because I felt that this year we dropped some points too easy.
“They won the league, so we cannot allow that. We need to fight to the end. We have to play with more confidence, with more responsibility.”
United have a good squad and this summer, the addition of a few more players will raise the bar at the club, also raising the quality, which has been lacking outside of the starting XI and a few other players in the squad. If United managed to sign three players; a winger, a midfielder and a central defender, things might be a bit better for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to achieve things with the club. Matic will have personal targets that he wants to achieve, one of which is winning the Premier League with United. He continued by saying:
“My personal target is to win the league with United – and I am sure that everyone wants to do the same.
“We have to promise our supporters that we will do our best – exactly what we have done after corona when we started to play again.
“That’s United. We have to win five, six consecutive games then you can drop some points, then again you have to do that run.
“Like that we can win the league. In the beginning of the season we were not stable, we won one or two games then we lost and we drew.
“Proper United is exactly what we did after corona and I hope we can continue like that next season.”
It just goes to show that players have ambition to win things at the club and Matic is exactly the same. His stock has risen this season after he showed the signs of a leadership role at the club, seeking to get United firing and heading in the right direction. With the reports of Donny van de Beek being United’s first signing of the summer, the midfield will be a position that is strengthened with Bruno Fernandes, Paul Pogba, Matic, Scott McTominay and Fred, with the addition of the Dutchman giving United six players and a little more depth and quality.
Written by John Walker
