Man Utd's defeat to Burnley might spur club on to complete Fernandes deal - Scholes

Manchester United's loss to Burnley might do Ole Gunnar Solskjaer a "favour in the transfer market", according to Paul Scholes, who is hoping the club will now shell out a "few extra million" on Sporting CP star Bruno Fernandes. 

United suffered their eighth Premier League defeat of the season on Wednesday when Burnley secured a stunning 2-0 victory at Old Trafford.

With the likes of Marcus Rashford, Paul Pogba and Scott McTominay all missing through injury, the Red Devils lacked creativity in midfield and a clinical edge in the final third against a well-organised Clarets side.

Anthony Martial was guilty of missing United's best chances early in the first half, before goals from Chris Wood and Jay Rodriguez gave the visitors a comfortable lead to hold on to.

Solskjaer has been tipped to add to his squad before the January transfer deadline, with Goal learning that negotiations over a €60 million (£51m/$67m) deal for Sporting playmaker Fernandes are ongoing.

Despite there being no guarantees Fernandes will move to Old Trafford, Scholes believes that United will attempt to push that transfer through as quickly as possible in the wake of another damaging setback to their hopes of Champions League qualification, as he told Premier League Productions: "Too often this season Manchester United have had two good results and then had two or three bad results.

"That performance might do him [Solskjaer] a favour in the transfer market. It might spur the club on to spend that few extra million on the players they’re looking at like Bruno Fernandes.

"It might get done tomorrow because of this. He needs more bodies in the building. He’s got some big injuries so he needs help.

"The club needs to help him now. I fear for the next few weeks because the injured players aren’t coming back for a while. He’s stuck with these players for now unless they sign anyone."

Solskjaer gave little away when quizzed on his recruitment plans post-match, but did insist United are still "working on things" after successfully starting a "clear-out".

Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez, Ander Herrera and Antonio Valencia all left Old Trafford last summer, while Ashley Young completed a move to Inter earlier this month.

United must now dust themselves down ahead of a fourth-round FA Cup tie against either Watford or Tranmere on Sunday, which comes three days before the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final against Manchester City.

The holders won the first leg 3-1 at Old Trafford, but the Red Devils will likely draw some inspiration from a 2-1 victory at the Etihad Stadium in the Premier League back in December.