Rio Ferdinand: Manchester United must ‘move heaven and earth’ to sign Kylian Mbappe or Erling Haaland

Red Devils need a world-class striker to close the gap to the top next season, according to Ferdinand

PSG’s Kylian Mbappe (left) and Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland (Getty Images)

Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has stressed the importance of his old club securing the services of either Kylian Mbappe or Erling Haaland this summer.

United sit second in the Premier League table, 12 points behind rivals and leaders Man City with 12 games remaining, and with the Red Devils’ chances of winning the title looking increasingly slim each week, Ferdinand believes they need a world-class striker to help close the gap to Pep Guardiola’s champions-in-waiting next season.

Speaking on his FIVE YouTube channel, the former United centre-back said: “[Edinson] Cavani, yes, he’s a good stop-gap but [the club need] a centre-forward.

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“If people like Erling Haaland or Kylian Mbappe are available, you can’t allow them to go somewhere else and you need to move heaven and earth to get them here.

“United are used to having superstars and those boys would change the narrative at this football club, that’s how good they are.

“There’s room for improvement and opportunity to improve this squad, there’s players out there available, it seems. We need to be in the mix.”

Haaland is one of the hottest prospects in Europe right now, having scored 27 goals in 26 appearances across all competitions this season. The striker, who is still just 20 years old, joined Borussia Dortmund from RB Salzburg in January 2020.

Twenty-two-year-old Mbappe, meanwhile, has 23 goals in 31 outings so far this campaign, including a hat-trick against Barcelona in the first leg of Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League last-16 first leg, which the Ligue 1 titleholders won 4-1.