Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has ruled out a major summer spending spree as Manchester United try to close the gap on rivals City.
The United boss saw Pep Guardiola’s side moved a mammoth 15 points clear with their 4-1 win against Wolves.
Old Trafford legend Rio Ferdinand has urged his ex-club to ‘move heaven and earth’ to sign hotshots Erling Haaland or Kylian Mbappe ahead of their Prem rivals.
Gary Neville and Paul Scholes also want United to bring in a new centre-back partner for Harry Maguire but Solskjaer, who ideally wants a striker and defender, says Covid-19 will hamper his transfer budget.
Solskjaer said: “There’s going to be less transfers happening in the world of football with all these changes.
“The pandemic is definitely affecting everyone in football, the lack of finances, it’s affected everyone.
“All clubs in the world are going through the same situation so it’s no different for other clubs than for us.”
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Solskjaer stated less than two weeks ago he has been promised funds to sign the best players around after being backed by Ed Woodward and the Glazers with £260million on players in the last two years.
But the Norwegian has now performed a turnaround since those bullish comments on the eve of United releasing their latest quarterly financial results on Thursday.
He added: “We have to be realistic and responsible in the way we do our business both on and off the pitch.
“There are improvements on the training ground, stadium – we have to look at the whole picture.
“Where can we spend the money? And how much is there? It’s just the real world now. It has changed.”
Solskjaer has tried to promote young players during his two years in charge at United – and suggested he might have to do so again.