Manchester Utd boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer sets sights on title

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has challenged his Manchester United players to win the Premier League title next season.

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Old Trafford after being appointed manager on a full-time basis. Picture: AFP

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has challenged his players to win the Premier League title next season after being appointed Manchester United manager for a knockdown price of £500,000 ($921,000).

United yesterday announced that Solskjaer, who played for United from 1996 to 2007, had signed a contract as their permanent manager until the summer of 2022 after a successful three-month caretaker spell.

Solskjaer lost just three of his 19 matches in temporary charge. The 46-year-old has taken United to within two points of the top four and secured a place in the Champions League quarter-finals with a breathtaking win over Paris Saint-Germain.

“This has been my ultimate dream,” Solskjaer said. “I’m honoured and privileged to be given this fantastic responsibility.”

When United took Solskjaer on loan from Molde in December after sacking Jose Mourinho, all parties agreed to cancel his contract with the Norwegian club as FIFA rules state that a person cannot manage two clubs. United paid Molde a small fee at the time.

Given that he had no contract with Molde, United were not obliged to give them any compensation to make Solskjaer their permanent manager, but it is understood they have paid the Norwegian club about £500,000 as a goodwill gesture.

United would have had to pay £34m to get Mauricio Pochettino, the original frontrunner, out of Tottenham Hotspur.

Solskjaer’s contract is worth £7m per season, less than half of the £15m annual wage that Mourinho earned during his two and a half year spell at Old Trafford. United will develop a partnership with Molde and are expected to play them in a pre-season friendly.

Solskjaer immediately set his sights high, saying he could be the first Old Trafford manager to win the Premier League since Alex Ferguson did so in his final season in charge six years ago.

“To lift the Premier League trophy again is what we expect and what we are used to and it’s what we have done so many times,” Solskjaer, who won the league six times as a player, said.

“We can’t wait for too many years, but we have to take it step by step.”

To realise his aim, United’s board will back Solskjaer in the transfer market this northern summer. His staff of Mike Phelan, Mark Dempsey, Michael Carrick, Kieran McKenna and Emiliano Alvarez will also stay.

Solskjaer did not rule out a tilt at the title next season even though United are way off the pace this term — 18 points behind Liverpool, the leaders.

“We take confidence from our performances and results lately, and it’s been by fine margins, but that’s the league,” he said.

“It is decided by margins and if you have the belief, confidence, togetherness, the workrate, the ­attitude, you’ll get those margins and that’s when you’ll win games and you’ll suddenly end up challenging for trophies.

“We have to earn the right to be at the top and I have lots of faith in the players, the staff and the club.”

THE TIMES