Manchester United's recent failures to keep up with the dominance of Liverpool and Manchester City in the Premier League is already seeing them miss out on the younger generations of fans.
That's the warning issued to the Reds bitter rivals by Wolves player Diogo Jota ahead of their visit to Molineux on Monday night.
Although Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side got their new campaign off to a flying start with a 4-0 thrashing of Frank Lampard's Chelsea, they finished well off the pace last season as 'noisy neighbours' City and Liverpool battled it out in a record-breaking two-horse race for the title.
City finished the season with 14 wins in a row to pip Liverpool, who amassed a club record 97 points themselves, to retain their crown by a single point but United, who finished sixth were a further 31 points adrift.
Jurgen Klopp's men then went on to win the Champions League and lift the European Cup for the sixth time – doubling United's total – and Portuguese forward Jota reckons the gap in quality is having a knock-on effect when it comes to eroding the Red Devils world-wide fanbase, something he his witnessed first hand in his own country.
Jota told the Daily Mail : “Of course Man United will always be a great team. But when City and Liverpool are winning titles, they have more fans supporting them in Portugal.
“It has to do with the moment and we have to be honest and say that Liverpool is having a better moment right now than Man United.
“Everyone likes winners and when the younger fans look at other countries, they like to see a team that is winning like Man City and Liverpool.”
