Manchester United have been warned about an £89m problem they can't ignore

This time last year Manchester United were gearing up for the start of the summer transfer window having identified just four players within their squad who were not for sale.

This time around, you could not blame United's decision-makers for not putting a hands-off warning on a single member of Ruben Amorim's squad.

Wednesday night's 1-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League final in Bilbao meant nothing is salvageable from what has been a wretched campaign. United will end the season without a trophy and potentially just once place above the relegation zone.

As hard as the most upbeat United supporter might look for a positive, it will be an almost impossible task to pluck a single one out of this campaign.

It is why there has never been a better time than this summer for the United hierarchy to gut this squad and be ruthless.

Players such as Victor Lindelof, Jonny Evans and Christian Eriksen need to be released, while the likes of Tyrell Malacia, Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford, Antony and Casemiro should all be sold. United plan to prioritise the sales of Rashford, Sancho and Antony.

Successfully offloading those eight players would be a step in the right direction this summer. However, you could hardly file any of their departures under the definition of a ruthless decision.

Instead, United need to make a statement by offloading one or more of their regular starters, such as Rasmus Hojlund or Alejandro Garnacho. Andre Onana is another who should not be safe from the axe.

Despite plans for outgoings to reach double figures, United, following their failure to qualify for next season's Champions League campaign, are unlikely to have the financial clout to replace those who leave with an adequate level of