Harry Maguire insists top four spot is ‘minimum requirement’ now for Manchester United

Captain Harry Maguire insists a top-four finish in the Premier League is ‘minimum requirement’ now for Manchester United with the squad ready to compete for silverware.

The Red Devils finished third after beating Leicester 2-0 on the final day and booked their place in next season’s Champions League.

Manchester United still have the chance to finish the campaign with a trophy by winning the Europa League next month. 

‘That’s why I joined this club. I joined this club to play Champions League football,’ captain Maguire told MUTV.

‘At the start of the season not many people fancied us. Now we are third in the league everyone is going to go ‘well, it’s expected for Manchester United’. But at the start of the season no-one fancied us to reach the top four but we’ve worked hard, we’ve improved and I think that’s the main thing this season.

‘What you see is a proper Manchester United team where we’re not happy to just fight for the top four, that’s not us.

Manchester United have the chance to finish the campaign by winning the Europa League

‘We’re realists and we knew we’re not going to jump the points total that we finished on last season to win the Premier League. It’s not impossible, you’ve seen Leicester do it, but it’s hard.

‘We set a target of the top four as a minimum requirement, we had great belief that we would get there. We have left it late but we’ve got there in the end.

‘It’s not what we want in the future. The future is all about winning trophies and winning Premier Leagues. The main thing this season is to see the improvement from last season, and it’s been enormous.’

The Red Devils finished third in the Premier League after beating Leicester 2-0 on the final day