Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has shared his insight into how certain Manchester United players turned ‘sour’ while discussing dressing room leaks during his tenure as manager at Old Trafford.
Initially appointed as interim manager of United in 2018 following Jose Mourinho’s departure, Solskjaer was later confirmed as the full-time manager in the summer of 2019.
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Following a successful season where he guided United to a Europa League semi-final and a second-placed finish in the Premier League, the team faced disappointment by losing to Villarreal in the Europa League final in 2020.
Subsequently, United struggled to maintain their previous form under Solskjaer’s leadership, leading to his dismissal after a 4-1 defeat at Watford left them in seventh place in the Premier League.
Towards the end of his time as manager, there were several leaks purportedly originating from sources within the United dressing room that surfaced in various media outlets.
Speaking on a recent episode of The Overlap’s Stick To Football, Solskjaer, joined by presenters Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, and Roy Keane, candidly discussed the issue of leaks.
He explained: “I felt we [coaching staff] had a very good rapport with the players, but there are always one or two in a squad that leak things because they are unhappy.
“Being a manager, you play a game Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday, you sack about 14 players every game, and the next morning you have to tell them they have another chance.
“There are only a certain amount of times you can say, ‘I’ll give you that game, you’ve got a chance’.
“In the end, they go sour. We had a big squad with too many players. If you have too many players, they get unhappy.”
Since leaving United, Solskjaer has not taken on another managerial position, though there were recent rumors connecting him to the possibility of replacing Thomas Tuchel at Bayern Munich until the season’s end.
Nevertheless, Bayern Munich later announced that Tuchel would remain in charge until the end of the campaign before stepping down, and Bayer Leverkusen manager Xabi Alonso is currently the frontrunner to succeed him at the Allianz Arena.
