Manchester United will be well aware they have a mountain to climb if they are to challenge defending champions Liverpool for the Premier League this season.

Although the Red Devils are expecting a relatively quiet January transfer window, the board could be tempted to make a move for a signing should the opportunity arise to sign one of their top targets in the upcoming market.

With United's finances restricted due to the coronavirus pandemics, perhaps Ed Woodward could be tempted to raise surplus cash by offloading some of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's fringe players.

You'd have to imagine that Phil Jones and Andreas Pereira, who is currently on loan at Serie A side Lazio, will be among the first names on the chopping block.

However, Solskjaer must bite the bullet and urge Woodward to cash in on Jesse Lingard, with the £100,000-per-week United outcast bleeding the Glazers dry.

Reports in recent times revealed that Solskjaer is looking to sell Lingard as soon as possible, but a move never materialised up until now.

Glasgow Rangers, Celtic, and teams from Germany, Spain and Italy are all interested in the former England international, according to TEAMtalk, which is perhaps hardly surprising given his experience.

The one-time Premier League champion has scored 33 goals and supplied 20 assists in over 200 appearances for the Red Devils in all competitions, via Transfermarkt.

But the versatile forward, who predominantly plays as a right winger, hasn't played a single game in the Premier League or the Champions League so far this season and despite being fit has been left out of the matchday squads for the past nine fixtures in the top flight.

His playing time solely been limited to just two appearances in the EFL Cup, where he failed to record a single goal or register a single assist against Luton, despite playing the full 90' minutes, which only goes to show that he may be heading for the Old Trafford exit.

Despite his shortcomings, the 28-year-old still earns more than Daniel James and Mason Greenwood, despite the fact the pair have played more regularly than Lingard.

It's surely a no brainer at this stage for Woodward to simply cut his losses once and for all, as he's costing the Glazers a fortune by being an unused substitute on the bench, and the money may be best spent elsewhere instead, like signing a new centre-back.

AND in other news, Paul Pogba stole the show for Solskjaer as Man Utd edged past Sheffield United...