Exclusive: Paul Parker Slams Manchester United's Lack of Quality and Urges January Reinforcements

Former Manchester United ace Paul Parker is convinced the club don't have enough quality in depth to be anywhere near challenging for the Premier League title.

The two-time Premier League winner has urged the Red Devils to strengthen in the January transfer window in another step to restore the club to its former glory and to be able to cut the mustard in the top flight.

Parker Questions the Red Devils' Depth and Recent Signings 

“The football team are lacking quality,” Parker told SportsBoom.com. 

“You can just see that from the standards that Manchester United have set previously, not what they’re up against now in the Premier League."

“The general standard of the club, well for me, the players are not there."

“I can understand the [Manuel] Ugarte signing, I’m starting to see why they’ve gone and got him. There’s definitely something about his game which will help Man Utd, in my opinion, and what they want to do."

“But I have to wonder about some of the other signings."

“You only have to look at our front three, which has been our front three for a while now, well any team fighting to saves their lives wouldn’t want that front three."

“They’d only probably take Amad [Diallo] – and I said that six or seven months."

“But then nobody was interested in what I said because I wasn’t Gary Neville or Roy Keane."

“[Marcus] Rashford or [Rasmus] Hojlund, they just wouldn’t do. There’s not enough from them to even help a team down the bottom of the division, let along up near the top."

“If I look at someone like West Ham, for example, they’d have [Mohammed] Kudus, [Jarrod] Bowen and [Lucas] Paqueta that’s a better front three than Man Utd have.”

Calls for Change On and Off the Pitch 

Parker enjoyed memorable success at Old Trafford when Sir Alex Ferguson ruled the roost.

Two league titles in the 1992-93 and 1993-94 seasons respectively saw talented right-back Parker, now 60, write his name in United folklore, and there was also FA Cup and League Cup crowns to treasure, as well as the Community Shield during a golden era under Fergie’s expert guidance.

But ex-England international Parker has watched with dismay after a string of top managers have struggled to get anywhere near Ferguson’s unprecedented success.

David Moyes struggled to make the step up from Everton, while Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Erik ten Hag all won trophies but never achieved success in the Premier League, with arch-rivals Manchester City having dominated domestic competition in recent years.

“It’s [Manchester United] a tough job, but for me the job has got tougher and tougher,” added Parker.

“It was always going to be tough to replace Sir Alex Ferguson, there’s no way around that, but it’s just got tougher and tougher because of what’s going on above."

“Without a shadow of the doubt all the things that have been going at the club have complicated things."

“In life, whether it’s in business or whatever you want to say, at the end of the day it it’s not right at the top, then it all suddenly falls down to what’s going on below."

“That’s what’s happened. If the football was right down below and everything was right on the pitch, then no one would talk about what’s going on up top."

“But there’s so many things that need to be corrected up top to help make sure things getting better on the pitch.”