Football finance expert Stefan Borson feels Manchester United would have to spend £300million to replace three Red Devils if Eddie Howe took the job at Old Trafford.

United spent over £150million to sign Andrey Santos, Youri Tielemans and Carlos Baleba in the summer. The midfield trio have struggled to impose themselves, along with the rest of the Red Devils side, who are 17th in the Premier League.

That position has Michael Carrick under threat, and after losing to Chelsea, pressure will ramp up higher than it was when United were beaten 3-0 by Bournemouth the week prior.

Former Newcastle boss Howe is said to be ready to take over should Carrick lose his job, but Borson feels the squad changed which would be needed would be very expensive.

He told Football Insider: “If you look at, say Eddie Howe, and the physicality that he wants in midfield like he had a Newcastle United…

“He’ll need three £100million midfielders, I would say. And they’re not going to buy three £100m midfielders, not when they’ve got to rebuild the whole defence as well.

“So what are they going to do? I think whoever comes in is going to find it very hard to compete on multiple fronts.

“Any manager with those players, they might get a bounce, but ultimately, long-term, you’ve got the same squad, one that’s not good enough for the manager or appropriate for the manager’s tactics.”

Alan Shearer wary of Eddie Howe at Man Utd

Newcastle legend Alan Shearer is wary of how successful Howe would be able to be at United.

He said: “I don’t know if Eddie Howe would go in and turn it around at Manchester United. They would have to compensate Newcastle because of the time left on his contract.

“Eddie likes control and, whether he would get that at Old Trafford, I don’t know.

“I feel uncomfortable, when someone’s in a job, talking about another manager who could potentially come in, but Howe is Newcastle’s most successful manager in my lifetime and he did an unbelievable job, dragging us out of the relegation zone into great Champions League and delivering that trophy.

“He’s a highly talented coach and manager, but we’ve seen many of those go into Man Utd and fail.

“I couldn’t give him any advice. I know the size of the football club and, even though the team are very different to what they were 20 or 30 years ago, I understand the pull of Man Utd still.

“It’s a really tough task going in there because of how they are being run.”