Manchester United legend Roy Keane believes the club should go for Harry Kane and Declan Rice in the summer window

Manchester United legend Roy Keane, speaking after the Red Devils’ win over Fulham (h/t Manchester Evening News) in the last game of the Premier League believes the club needs to sign Harry Kane and Declan Rice to be title challengers for the next season.

Erik Ten Hag has done a wonderful job in his first year at the club leading the team to a 3rd place finish and one cup already in the hands while the team is in the FA Cup final as well.

It is in stark contrast to the end of last season where it seemed that there is no way forward for the club and a 17-point addition this season shows the huge strides the team has taken in just one year.

However, we have to be realistic and acknowledge that we are still not on the same level as the likes of Manchester City and Ten Hag needs backing in the summer window to assemble a squad that can compete with our noisy neighbours.

Keane believes United are a few signings away from competing with the best teams and believes the club should look at Kane and Rice as possible reinforcements for the summer.

“They’re going to be linked with lots of players but the one that would excite you is Kane. I think Rice would be a decent signing, but in terms of the excitement and the goalscoring, you’d go all out for Kane. But can you see Spurs selling him to Man United? Very, very difficult.”

While it can be agreed that Kane and Rice would fit perfectly in the current squad and are the missing pieces that would take us to the next level, it would be really tough to get the deals done.

We all are aware of how shrewd an operator Daniel Levy is and it would be almost impossible that he will allow Kane to join a direct rival.

Rice, on the other hand, is expected to leave West Ham United this summer but many speculations claim his preference to remain in London and join Arsenal.

Hence, it is not just an issue of dealing with the clubs but also putting in efforts for players to agree to sign for the club.

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While it would be a dream scenario if we get both Kane and Rice, no one wants a repeat of the Frenkie De Jong saga of last summer and ideally the club would want to get the majority of deals done before the pre-season.

It is highly unlikely that a deal for either of the two players would be done by then, which would then raise the question of playing the waiting game or moving on to more accessible targets.