Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has insisted that the top four is still a realistic option for the Red Devils, but has urged current manager Jose Mourinho to aim for glory in the Europa League.

A great chance

It has been a good start to life at Old Trafford for Mourinho since his move last summer, with one trophy under his belt in the form of the EFL Cup and a last-eight clash in the Europa League still to come.

However one front that they have lacked on has been in the Premier League, the side currently fifth in the table with two games in hand over fourth-placed Liverpool but face tough competition to sneak a spot in Europe's elite competition with the likes of Arsenal.

Ferguson has been in the United States promoting this summer's upcoming tour, and he stated that the side really need to achieve glory in the Europa League in order to secure a place in the Champions League next season.

“The season is still alive,” Ferguson told Sirius XM FC. “They’ve won the League Cup and are in the Europa League and I think they’ve got a great chance there."

"It’s very important now because if you win it," the manager stated to the US radio station. "You’re into the Champions League and at the moment the Premier League is a real fight for the positions behind Chelsea with Tottenham, Arsenal, Liverpool, ourselves."

"It’s not going to be easy to get into the top four," the Scotsman conceded. “They could do it but I look on the Europa League as a great chance."

"First of all, the club has never won the Europa League," Ferguson added. "It adds to the CV so I think we’ve got a good opportunity.”

Get on well

Many casted doubt over whether or not that Ferguson and Mourinho would get on when the former Chelsea man took over, given their past encounters including the Portuguese' infamous touchline run with Porto at Old Trafford back in 2004.

But Ferguson insisted that he gets on well with the 54-year-old and that the side would be challenging for the title without the number of draws at the Theatre of Dreams

“I get on well with Jose and think he’s doing a really good job,” he admitted. “He’s been a bit unlucky actually because there are home games this season they’ve been absolutely brilliant in but have drawn them."

"If they’d got those wins they deserved they’d be challenging for the league," Ferguson concluded. "There’s no doubt about that.”

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Danial  Kennedy
Award-winning sports journalism graduate. Currently studying a PR Masters at the University of Sunderland. Writing for VAVEL since August 2014. Twitter - @ddkjournalism.