Nemanja Matic called on Manchester United to release further millions for Jose Mourinho to strengthen this summer.
United finished the season without a trophy for the first time in three years, with fresh scrutiny placed on Mourinho’s management.
Matic believes the manager requires additional finances in order to compete with Manchester City in the Premier League next term.
‘We need a few more players in the squad and then we can fight for the title and hopefully we can do that,’ Matic said.
Mourinho wants a new left back this summer and has interest in both Alex Sandro from Juventus and Danny Rose at Tottenham. Celtic’s Kieran Tierney has also been watched.
Shakhtar Dontesk central midfielder Fred is expected to seal a switch to Old Trafford in the coming weeks, with Napoli’s Jorginho preferring City.
The United boss has constantly claimed they do not need attacking reinforcements but will have been worried at a lack of cutting edge.
Matic, however, does not think United are too far behind their rivals and bemoaned missed chances at Wembley during the slender defeat by Chelsea.
‘We had one mistake with the goal but we played good football for the whole 90 minutes,’ the Serbian added. ‘I think we deserved more but this is football with one mistake, sometimes you can lose the game and this is what happened to us.
‘But I am happy for the team and how we played so I hope next time we will have more luck. We played against a very good squad and they were very well organised so it wasn’t easy to create chances.
‘We did have chances which we didn’t convert and to win games you have to score goals. But as I said, we deserved more.’ The details of Saturday’s final were not discussed between the squad and their boss – who was spotted heading into referee Michael Oliver’s room for a quick chat before departing Wembley.
But there is a belief that they outplayed Chelsea and deserved to win the game.
Matic said: ‘We didn’t speak with him but I think he saw the game in the same way. We played good football, especially in the second half where we controlled the ball all the time.
‘So he must have been pleased with the way we played and organised the game.. But when you lose the game, we’re not happy.’
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