Manchester United legend Nicky Butt has named the two Treble-winning teammates he would most like to see in the current side.
Victory over Liverpool on Sunday confirmed United’s place in next season’s Champions League, where they have enjoyed some of their most celebrated nights in club history.
Sir Alex Ferguson oversaw a historic Treble in the 1998-99 season where the club won European football’s biggest prize having already bagged the Premier League and FA Cup. Only Manchester City have replicated the feat since in English football.
The team that collected those prizes is regarded as one of the best in the club’s history with Paul Scholes and Roy Keane marshalling midfield while Ryan Giggs and David Beckham caused havoc down the wings.
Peter Schmeichel, Jaap Stam and Ronny Johnson were the foundation at the back with Gary Neville and Denis Irwin models of consistency.
But asked which player he would want in Michael Carrick’s current squad, Butt couldn’t separate the fearsome duo of Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole. Their thrilling partnership up top lit up United’s attack, scoring 54 goals between them – 10 more than United managed in the entire Premier League campaign last season.
‘You could say Peter Schmeichel straight away, but they don’t really need him at the minute because Lammens is doing very well,’ Butt told Paddy Power.
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‘It wouldn’t be one for me, it’d be a double act. I think if you put Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole into that equation you’ve got goals coming out of your ears.
‘The easiest thing to say would be Roy Keane because he drives the football club forward and he demands nothing other than your 100 per cent every week and every training session.
‘But the three in midfield are doing well. I know I was asked for one, but definitely the Yorke and Cole combination would be phenomenal.’
United also had Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at their disposal that season with the pair coming off the bench to score two of the most important goals in club history in the Champions League final against Bayern Munich.
Ferguson was blessed with four strikers who ‘would have been in any starting XI in the league,’ a far cry from the current situation with Benjamin Sesko the only recognised senior centre forward in the squad.
‘They were brilliant and the good thing with that team is if they were not on top form, you’d have Teddy Sheringham or Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to come in,’ Butt continued.
‘They were also just phenomenal. All those four forwards would have been in any other starting XI in the league.
‘Compare that to Benjamin Sekso now or Rasmus Hojlund before. They’re on their own.
‘All the weight on their shoulders at a young age and I don’t know how that can be looked upon as right.
‘Everyone’s saying Bryan Mbeumo can do a job or Matheus Cunha can do a job. We don’t want that, we shouldn’t have people at Man United doing jobs, we should have people that are experts in their position.
‘The question was one, but I would definitely say that double act.’