Manchester United great Bryan Robson has urged his former club to press ahead with a move for Newcastle United and England defender Lewis Hall before the summer transfer window shuts, after completing the signing of Carlos Baleba this week.

Baleba was presented as United’s fourth arrival of the window on 25 August, joining from Premier League rivals Brighton in a deal worth a guaranteed £65 million.

The 22-year-old brings added competition to the Manchester United midfield after the earlier signings of Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans in the same window.

In spite of what has been a reasonably productive transfer window, Michael Carrick’s team came in for heavy criticism after a surprise 2-0 loss away to newly promoted Hull City on Saturday.

Experienced full-back Luke Shaw was among several Red Devils players who failed to perform, with the England international at fault for Hull’s second goal.

The 31-year-old is still the club’s only senior left-back ahead of the new Premier League campaign, and that is a significant worry given the fitness issues he has had throughout his spell at Old Trafford.

United have been pursuing Hall all summer, with the player himself understood to be keen on the switch, while Alejandro Balde and Jorge Salinas are also on their shortlist.

However, Robson wants his former side to make the Newcastle left-back their priority, with Hall thought to be valued at around £60 million.

“If you stay in the Cup competitions and you’ve got the Champions League, you’ve got a lot of games in the season, and so you more or less always have to have two players who are decent in the same position,” he told talkSPORT.

“Luke Shaw is a terrific player, but Hall would be a good addition to our squad.

“But you never know with his [financial] fair play and everything whether you’ve got the money to buy somebody like him when you’ve just spent £70 million [on Baleba].

“We’ve spent money before that, so it’s a balancing act in where you think it’s most important.”

At the same time, Robson believes United can get back into the race for a top-four finish this season, although he sees Arsenal as the leading contenders to win the title again.

He added: “I think we’re not far off [Man City]. Especially with them losing the manager, yeah, they’ve brought a few decent players, but they’ve weakened the squad as well with some of their top players having left this summer.

“So I can see the top four being more or less the same as last year.

“Arsenal are looking really strong, made some great signings in the summer to go with what they’ve got. Arsenal are going to be the ones to beat.

“I think then City will be in there, Liverpool, ourselves, but Chelsea got off to a great start as well, and it’s a fantastic signing, Rogers.

“I’m gobsmacked that they got him because I think he’s a terrific player.”