Marouane Fellaini has claimed that Manchester United are paying the price for sacking former manager Jose Mourinho too soon.

United’s latest defeat at Newcastle United was their third already this season and meant Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team went into the international break in 12th place in the Premier League table.

Fellaini left United in January, moving to Chinese Super League club Shandong Luneng after it became clear he was not part of Solskjaer’s plans.

But the 31-year-old midfielder still has a number of friends at Old Trafford, including Paul Pogba, and believes the club’s struggles can be attributed to the turnaround in managers.

“They brought in one of the best managers in the world in Jose Mourinho, he wanted to build a team and they sacked him,” said Fellaini. “It’s not easy to build a team in that time, you need more than two years.

“I don’t know what they will do with Solskjaer but, for me, to win things and to improve, you need time. Mourinho, for the first season, he did amazingly, he improved the team, won things.