Paul Scholes column: Arne Slot’s ‘unbelievable achievement’ with Liverpool and my concerns over Matheus Cunha-Manchester United links

I actually thought Liverpool would have a chance of winning the league when I saw them playing at Old Trafford back in September. I know that Manchester United aren’t in the best shape, but I was really impressed by what I saw from Liverpool. There are goals all over the team and I thought if Virgil Van Dijk and Alisson stayed fit, they’d stand a great chance. Even though Alisson missed a few games, Van Dijk was still there and winning the league is an amazing achievement.

They probably haven’t been pushed with the likes of Manchester City not being great this year and with Arsenal drawing too many games. But even if they were pushed, I still think they would’ve won the title and gone into another gear and although it was a bit quiet in the last five weeks or so with nobody chasing them. In the end, it was quite easy, but it’s still an unbelievable achievement.

They looked like the best team in the league for me. Nobody else got anywhere near them, so you have to admire them for that. When I retired, Liverpool were only two league titles behind us, so you knew there was always a possibility of it happening, and the way things are now, you’d put money on Liverpool winning it again before Man Utd do.

It will be a difficult decision for him. When you’re a local lad, it’s very hard to leave your club, especially when you’ve just won the Premier League. He’s with a big club at Liverpool and if you’re not at a big club it’s easy to make that move to Real Madrid. The thing he has to bear in mind is where is he more likely to win trophies for the next few years.

I suppose Real Madrid have had a little bit of a slump, but their slumps don’t seem to last that long. There’s definitely more competition in England with Liverpool. In an attempt to win the Premier League and Champions League, you’ll compete with Man City, Arsenal and even Chelsea might spend big again, so it’s more difficult to win here. Do Liverpool look like a team that can go on and win the league for the next five or six years? I don’t think so yet and I might be proven wrong, but when City won the league, you thought yeah, they’ll win it again.

But with Liverpool, you’re just not quite sure and football is all about winning trophies. So, for Trent, it’s where he thinks he’ll win the most trophies, and you’d probably slightly favour Real Madrid, purely because of their history in the Champions League and not that much competition in the league apart from Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.

I think they need to improve defensively. Obviously if Trent goes, they might need cover for Conor Bradley. As good as Conor has done over the years, he does tend to pick injuries up. They also might have an issue with the No. 2 goalkeeper if Caoimhin Kelleher leaves as well. I think they need a left-back and although I think Andy Robertson has been brilliant for Liverpool, there were times this year where you thought that could be a weakness.

I think Slot would want a holding midfield player. I know Ryan Gravenberch has been very good but if he got injured, they’ll need some major back-up in there. Also, I don’t think Federico Chiesa will be there next year so I think they might need at least two players up top although I do think they’ve got the best forwards in the league anyway.

He looks like he’s got the attributes that Ruben Amorim wants. He knows that physically, his team are just not strong or quick enough, so Matheus Cunha is obviously athletic, and he’s got quality with 15 league goals this season. I just worry for any signing coming to Manchester United at the minute. It just feels like it’s such a bad place to go. The quality of play right now is so poor.

And with Cunha, is he a centre-forward or is he a wide player? There’s no doubt that he has quality and of course, it would be nice to sign him, but I worry about where he fits in. You can sign the best three players in the world, and I think they’ll struggle coming into this team at the minute, but they’ve got to start somewhere.

Man Utd have been a disaster in the Premier League this year. It’s been really difficult to watch and again it was difficult once more against Bournemouth. The Europa League has given them a little bit of life. Winning it will not save their season because the Premier League is your bread and butter and that’s where you’ll be judged, and I think Amorim knows that.

There’s a bit of light at the end of the tunnel with the Europa League for the fans especially. They’ve got a tough game against Athletic Club as they’re one of the better teams left in the competition. I think being at home in the second leg helps them.

If they were away in the second leg, I think they’d really struggle to get through, but if they can go over there and get a result, then the crowd at Old Trafford in that second leg can really get you through. You wouldn’t be putting your money on them and calling them favourites to win it because of how inconsistent they are, but out of the four teams, they’ve got as good a chance as any of them.

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