Moyes: Players will still choose United

Manchester United manager David Moyes says players will still aim for a stint at Old Trafford  – despite the club’s recent catalogue of troubles.

Moyes is confident that his transfer targets will still want to come to Manchester United even though the club cannot offer them a guarantee of Champions League football.

The comments come in the wake of the Red Devils crashing out of Europe’s top club competition last night (Wednesday) with a 4-2 aggregate defeat to Bayern Munich.

With their recent win, Bayern Munich have now reached the semi-finals. The team will find out this Friday if they’ll face Chelsea, Atletico Madrid or Real Madrid.

Manchester United are now seven points adrift of the top four,  with only five matches left, meaning that their chances of qualifying for next season’s tournament via the Premier League are getting slim.

Moyes said: “My focus is on getting a side together to get back in the Champions League.

“We’re looking to spend the right money on players who are available and it’s not anything to do with the Champions League. Any players we’ve quietly discussed it with are more than happy to join Manchester United. They know it’s not a long-term thing.”

This summer Moyes is expected to make some drastic changes in a bid to get the club back on track. Since taking over from manager Sir Alex Ferguson Manchester United have suffered loss after loss.  

Against Bayern the setbacks continued, with Rooney, who was playing with an injury, being off-target and missing two chances to score.

Moyes, on his decision to let Rooney play, said: “I thought at times he was having a struggle striking the ball on some occasions.

“I was concerned that he hadn’t trained all week and he had taken an injection. But he is so vital a player to us, especially with Robin van Persie out. But he just had a couple of opportunities and he couldn’t quite take them.”