Rio Ferdinand has claimed that Manchester United's failure to sign Paulo Dybala this summer will benefit Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's project in the long run.

United and Juventus reached an agreement in principle regarding a swap deal involving Dybala and Romelu Lukaku, but the move fell through due to the player's wage demands and complications over image rights.

Solskjaer is said to be adamant that United should only sign players who were fully committed to the Norwegian's project at Old Trafford.

Speaking on the subject of Dybala's reluctance to complete a switch to the Premier League, Ferdinand said: "A lot of players have declined coming to Man Utd in recent years. They've chosen somewhere else.

"But I don't know how Dybala had the audacity to turn them down when he's on the bench at Juventus. He needs to start playing some football.

"Maybe he's thinking: 'I want to be Champions League or I'll sit on the bench. I'd rather do that than play at Man Utd.' Well, I'm happy he didn't come, then because you haven't got the right minerals that I want in a Man Utd player!"

Tottenham Hotspur also came close to securing a move for Dybala, agreeing on a £64.4m fee with the Old Lady, only to encounter the same issues as United when it came to personal terms.

United produced a rampant second-half counter-attacking performance to beat Chelsea 4-0 in their opening game of the 2019-20 season.