Ole hints United may look for loan signings in January

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has dropped a hint about his plans for the transfer window in January.

The boss has suggested he may consider looking to the loan market as he ponders strengthening his squad for the second half of the campaign.

After signing Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Harry Maguire and Daniel James in the summer, he could be on the look-out for a fourth recruit during a traditionally difficult time to acquire top targets.

The three close-season additions have all made impressive starts to their United careers but there could be a need to bolster our resources for the upcoming challenges at home and abroad.

"“It's not about X amount of money,”" declared the manager, when asked how big the club's transfer budget might be.

"“[Buying players] is about who we think is going to be good for the club in the long term, not just for three or four months."

”[Are those people available?] Probably not, because that's the thing in January - not many clubs will sell players they want to keep in January.

"“Maybe one or two could be a loan deal, but that's not a money thing, that's to help the team. But we're getting players back. We're looking at what can be available for us.”"

Speaking earlier in his press conference, Ole commented:"“Long term, we're looking at different positions and midfield [is one of them], yeah. We have been looking at midfielders."

"“There are always types of players that we're looking at, but I'm not going to sit here and talk about that now.”"

United have made successful loan signings in the past, such as Carlos Tevez and Henrik Larsson, but it remains to be seen what kind of business the club will attempt to do at the start of 2020.

As our round-up of recent transfers shows, the Reds are likely to be decisive if the right man does become available but the ridiculously long list of players linked with moves to Old Trafford in the media is not often a useful guide.