Rio Ferdinand tells Manchester United how long they must wait to win a trophy

Rio Ferdinand believes Manchester United will have to wait another two seasons to win a trophy at least.

Ambitions and hopes were high that United could finally launch a sustained Premier League title challenge this season in the summer, especially following the signings of Jadon Sancho, Raphael Varane and Cristiano Ronaldo. However, one has never looked likely and, after being eliminated early from the Carabao Cup and FA Cup, the Champions League is their only chance left to end the drought this year. Which seems highly unlikely at best.

United haven't won a trophy since the Europa League triumph in 2017 and have gone nine years without lifting the Premier League. Ferdinand admits that the early season hype was misplaced and that the club needs to give whoever the new permanent manager is at least two seasons to rebuild before winning trophies can be an achievable aim.

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"The problem I have is that Ralf has come in but then you're going to have to change it again for someone else's style of football. It's then going to be another upheaval, new style to implement and players understanding that," Ferdinand said on his Vibe with Five YouTube channel.

"I think personally United have got to write off the next year or two in terms of trophies, minimum - say: 'we're going to rebuild what we have, get our recruitment right and there is a certain style of play under this new manager that we are going to go with and he is going to have time to get it all right. There are going to be mistakes, a few things that go wrong but we are going to stick with this guy and give him a minimum of two years to work it out' and see the progress and that