Matt Le Tissier advises Jose Mourinho to clear out nine players from Manchester United squad

Matt Le Tissier has called for Jose Mourinho to radically overhaul his Manchester United squad to turn the club into title contenders again.

The Southampton legend has named the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Marouane Fellaini, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Ashley Young on a list of nine players who he believes should be allowed to leave United over the next two transfer windows.

However, he suggested that club captain Wayne Rooney should be retained despite his poor run of form.

The Red Devils have only won three of their last eight matches in all competitions and are sixth in the Premier League, eight points behind leaders Liverpool.

"I'd still keep Wayne Rooney around at the moment, if not for anything other than sentimental value to break [Bobby Charlton's] goalscoring record." Le Tissier told Sky Sports.

With regards to Rooney's strike partner Ibrahimovic, the former England international feels the 35-year-old only has one season left in him and should be allowed to leave the club when his one-year deal expires next summer.

Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo, Matteo Darmian, Morgan Schneiderlin and Memphis Depay are also included in the list of players who the former England international believes should be shipped out by United.

Depay, 22, was left out of United's 21-man squad that travelled to Turkey for the Europa League match against Fenerbahce on 3 November.

He was also omitted from the matchday squad for the Red Devils' 3-1 win over Swansea City at the weekend.

Last week, Fenerbahce boss Dick Advocaat advised Depay to leave United in order to play regular first-team football.

"The potential is there for him to be a good player. You cannot lose that, he has the quality to be a top player, but the problem for him is that there are so many quality players in that squad," Advocaat, who gave Depay his senior debut at PSV Eindhoven in 2011, was quoted as saying by the Guardian.

"So for himself it is important to start playing regularly at the age that he is at – otherwise the way, I think, is that maybe he has to find another solution because he is too good to sit on the bench."