United need to be City's biggest rivals next season: Former Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov

Manchester [UK], June 22 : Former Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov wants the Red Devils to match their arch-rivals Manchester City in the Premier League 2023/24 season.

City matched United's 1999 treble-winning season to become the second English team to achieve this feat. While City went on to achieve domestic and European success, United, on the other hand, won their first trophy since the 2016/17 season by lifting the Carabao Cup.

They also managed to reach the final of the FA Cup and ended their Premier League season in the third position. They managed to achieve this success under Erik Ten Hag's debut season.

After witnessing Manchester United perform under Ten Hag, Berbatov wants his former team to challenge City next season.

"United need to be [City's biggest rivals next season] because Erik ten Hag is now fully knowledgeable about everything that's going on at the club and his debut season is now over," Dimitar said, according to the club's website.

"Erik's expectation, the club's expectation and the fan's expectation should be to win the Premier League title next season. Of course, it's going to be tough with what Manchester City have done this year, but Manchester United's motivation should be to stop their domination," Dimitar added.

In light of the improvement of Arsenal and the expected rise of top 6 rivals - Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur, Dimitar expects the 2023/24 season to be a close-contested affair,

The Bulgarian striker believes if Ten Hag can recruit as successfully as he did in 2022 then the team will be ready to challenge for titles next season.

"You should only look to sign a player that's capable of playing in Erik ten Hag's system because Manchester United need to challenge for the Premier League title next season and do much better in the Champions League than they did last time," Berbatov signed off.