Gary Neville's former Manchester United teammate disagrees with his Glazers theory

Former Manchester United striker Andy Cole believes players should be able to focus on the football amid ongoing uncertainty surrounding the takeover.

Frustration continues to grow among United supporters regarding the Glazers and their prospective sale of the club. It has been nearly 10 months since the American family announced plans to 'explore strategic alternatives', but there has been little progress made.

That anger has been compounded by poor performances off the pitch, with Erik ten Hag's side losing three of their opening five Premier League matches. After defeat at Arsenal, Gary Neville insisted the drawn-out process was impacting players, but Cole insists they should be able to keep that out of their minds.

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“All the off-field issues shouldn’t have an impact on the players because when you play for Manchester United, you need to solely focus on winning football matches," Cole told Betfred. "You train all week preparing for your next game and getting yourself ready to go out there and win, so whatever’s happening off the pitch shouldn’t affect your performances on it.

"Once you cross that white line, you should be doing all you can to help your teammates and you’ve just got to get on with it. Every football club goes through this sort of thing but from a player’s perspective, you should only be thinking about winning football matches.

"Paul Merson the other day was saying that there’s a lot of excuses being bandied around regarding the Glazers and other matters, but the players can’t do anything about that. The players can’t do anything about