Manchester United legend Jaap Stam does not think his former side can win the Premier League title without an “extraordinary” star.

Man Utd’s performances under interim boss Michael Carrick indicate that they are not as far from the Premier League title as they seemed under former head coach Ruben Amorim.

Under Carrick, the Red Devils have won seven of their last nine Premier League games, and after defeating Aston Villa on Sunday, they have now beaten all of the other sides currently in the top six this season.

Remarkably, Carrick’s Man Utd have been better than Premier League leaders Arsenalover the past nine games, though this is largely thanks to the performances of captain Bruno Fernandes.

Fernandes is arguably the best player in the Premier League currently, grabbing seven goals and 16 assists in his 27 appearances this term.

However, Carrick remained coy when asked to comment on Fernandes’ future at Man Utd after he came close to joining the Saudi Pro League last summer.

“In terms of the club and moving forward, it’s difficult for me to get involved in too much of that,” Carrick said on Fernandes.

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“Bruno is definitely not someone we’d want to lose, I can say that.

“This summer and beyond that, it’s difficult for me to kind of go too far with that.

“But certainly, he’s important for us and he’s definitely not one we would want to lose.”

And Stam has warned Man Utd that they must keep Fernandes if they want to win the Premier League title in the near future.

“He is extraordinary, putting in players in front of goal and you need to have these players,” Stam told Viaplay.

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“We have a lot of discussions about Bruno and what he is and his mentality and how he can react to his team-mates at times.

“But when you see his quality on the ball and putting player sin front of goal, it’s extraordinary.

“You need to have these players in your team otherwise you’re never going to make that next step to win the title.”

There are not enough games left for Man Utd to bridge the gap to Arsenal and win the title this season, but former goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel has backed his former side to finish second ahead of Manchester City.

“It’s been painful. We’ve had two periods of 27 and 26 years, hopefully we’re not going to wait that long [for the title],” Schmeichel said.

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“Manchester United have come from not playing very well, not winning games, and then all of sudden, playing better and having some really good games, but getting some points on the board.

“I’m looking and I’m serious, I think we can catch Man City. I think we can do that. Our form is much better, our winning form is much better.

“If you put all of that confidence into the squad, give Michael Carrick the job.

“Let him pick the players that he wants and I don’t think it necessarily is such a big gap to close.

“We could be talking one year, two year, three years before they’re competitive.”