David Moyes has named two top transfer targets who could have made the difference to his ill-fated spell at Manchester United had the club managed to land them.

In an exclusive interview with the Mirror's Simon Mullock, Moyes said "small margins" and some poor fortune in the transfer window hindered his chances of success after taking over from Sir Alex Ferguson .

During his brief spell in charge at Old Trafford, Moyes spent just under £65million on Marouane Fellaini and Juan Mata - both of whom are proving to Jose Mourinho this season.

After Moyes was sacked, Louis van Gaal splashed ­almost £315m during his two seasons at the club.

Moyes struggled during his short spell at Old Trafford (
Image:
Michael Regan)
Moyes was chosen by Sir Alex to replace him at the helm (
Image:
Getty)

And Mourinho has forked out £260m in just three transfer windows – including a world-record fee for Paul Pogba, another £75m on Romelu Lukaku and handed Zlatan Ibrahimovic a deal worth a staggering £367,000-a-week.

Mourinho has claimed United “failed to evolve” in the three years between ­Ferguson retiring and his arrival in ­Manchester.

Moyes responded: “Jose has his opinion, but there was always going to be a ­transitional period after Sir Alex’s time was over.

Moyes' reign in charge of United has been criticised by Mourinho (
Image:
REUTERS)

“There was a changing of the guard. Not only did I replace Alex, David Gill had also stepped down as chief executive and Ed Woodward came in.

“So it was always going to take time. Yes, I took over the champions, but clubs like Chelsea and Man City spent huge amounts of that money that summer in a bid to overtake us.

“And it was difficult for me to go into Old Trafford and rip up the team that had just ran away with the title.

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“Having said that, things would have been a lot different if we had landed our main transfer targets.

“We were in for Gareth Bale and Cesc Fabregas.

"They were genuine targets, but for one ­reason or another we didn’t get them over the line.

"Getting them would have been the perfect start in terms of reshaping the squad I ­inherited.

Bale was one of Moyes' top targets during his time at United (
Image:
AFP)
Cesc Fabregas was on top of Moyes' list (
Image:
Action Plus)

“Having said that, I accept ­totally that when you are ­manager of ­Manchester United, you have to win. I didn’t win enough.

"But I don’t think there is a manager out there who would have been able to do something better or quicker in the time I was given after Sir Alex ­retired. It was all about small ­margins.”

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