Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Former Manchester United captain Roy Keane has questioned which available "brilliant players" will want to join the Old Trafford club in the summer now that the Red Devils are struggling to compete for silverware.

United lost 2-0 at home to Manchester City on Wednesday, and although they put in a much better performance than in their 4-0 humiliation to Everton on Sunday, the gulf in class to the defending Premier League champions was clear:

It was the Red Devils' seventh loss in nine in all competitions:

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side are now in serious danger of missing out on the Premier League's top four this season:

It is clear a rebuild is needed in the summer, but Keane expressed concern about who is in charge of recruitment at the club, and asked which top players actually want to join United anymore, per Sky Sports (h/t Goal):

"The worrying thing for me is that they need two centre-halves and two full-backs. That's four for starters. And who's making the final decision? You get the impression that there's chaos in the background. I know [executive vice-chairman] Ed Woodward gets a lot of criticism, the scouting department—and will Ole have the final say over [signing] players? I don't know, because if you speak to the previous managers I'll bet you that was a big problem for them.

"Also, which players out there, which brilliant players out there that are available will want to come to United? I always thought that when I was a player and up until the last two years, if I spoke to a player who had a chance to go to Man Utd I would say, 'you've got to go.'

"I don't care, brilliant club. Absolutely brilliant club. But you're on about now players wanting to win the big prizes, then you look at Man Utd. If you're a top player you will not want to come to Man Utd because there are better options out there in terms of winning trophies."

It was widely expected United would suffer a temporary slump following the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson back in 2013.

However, they are now nearing the end of their sixth season without the legendary Scot at the helm, and problems still exist.

If they can pick up seven points or more from their last three games of the 2018-19 Premier League season, United will actually achieve their second-best points tally since Ferguson's departure.

But, given the quality of title rivals City and Liverpool, United have arguably never looked further from being title challengers in the entire Premier League era.

Many of their squad lack the quality required to be part of a title-challenging side, while the desire of others has been questioned:

There could potentially be an opportunity in the summer for United to start fixing their problems by making some astute signings:

But if Keane is right that top players may no longer want to move to United, their problems could only get worse next term, as all their rivals will likely strengthen.