It’s difficult to recall the last time such a significant gulf existed between Manchester United and Liverpool.

Jurgen Klopp’s men took the Premier League title race to the final day of the season last term, while the Red Devils finished 31 points adrift in sixth place.

Their Champions League performances weren’t quite so contrasting; Liverpool won the competition for the first time since 2005 whereas United crashed out of the quarter-finals.

All things considered, the Anfield faithful can reasonably expect to celebrate winning another major honour soon.

The same can’t be said of their Old Trafford counterparts, though.

The arrivals of Harry Maguire, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Daniel James represent a new youth-driven philosophy being adopted by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

While the current squad isn’t likely to fire United back to domestic and continental glory, the future certainly looks bright.

However, Gary Neville insists the current players are capable of achieving success sooner than many might think.

"What I’m saying is, Liverpool, City, Tottenham, all these clubs have had poor recruitment policies over the last 25 or 30 years at times,” he told Sky Bet’s The Big Debate, per the Liverpool Echo.

“So United are going through one at the moment.

“Eventually they will stumble upon the right recruitment system, the right recruitment people, they’ll get a great manager - hopefully that’s Ole - and they’ll start to win again. That’s going to happen.

“I can guarantee you as clear as day, Manchester United will win again.

“They’ll probably win the league before Liverpool, in my opinion.

“And that’s not being disrespectful, they’ll probably win the league before Liverpool.”

Jamie Carragher then stepped in to remind Neville that Liverpool are the reigning European champions, and claimed United won’t achieve the same before the Merseysiders do it again.

Neville replied: “Maybe not, but I think they’ll win a league before Liverpool.

“They’re more ripe, they’re closer than you think and it’s not as bad as you think. That’s always the way it is.

“And Liverpool, Salah’s going to leave in the next 12 months, I can see it already.

“He [Carragher] knows, he won’t say it. I can see it, you can feel it, you can smell it…”

Can Neville actually be serious about this?

He’s right in the sense that United are on the right track, but claiming they’ll beat Liverpool to their next league title is surely going too far.

What do you make of Neville’s prediction? Share your opinion in the comments section.