"They don’t really get football" - Graeme Souness blasts Manchester United for spending £130 million on trio
Former Liverpool star Graeme Souness has taken shots at INEOS and claimed that the new Manchester United co-owners are clueless. He believes that the people they have put in charge are not good enough, and the signing proves his point.
On the Three Up Front podcast, Souness said that the summer signings – Manuel Ugarte, Matthijs De Ligt, and Joshua Zirkzee – aren't good enough to play for Manchester United. He added that they could have bought better players for the £200 million and said:
"I look at Man United since INEOS came in and it’s screaming out to me that they don’t really get football. They’ve now got their so-called footballing people in charge, in Dan Ashworth and Jason Wilcox, and I can’t believe for a minute that they didn’t have an input on the players they signed in the summer. They brought in Manuel Ugarte, Matthijs De Ligt, and Joshua Zirkzee. If they think those players are good enough for United, they’re wrong."
"They’ve still allowed £200 million to be spent on players like that. They’ve had one summer at the club and look what they’ve done with it! That has to fall at Dan Ashworth’s door. Ruben Amorim’s job now is to get the best out of this group of players, in whatever system that may be. He is walking into what is a very difficult job."
Manchester United sacked Erik ten Hag last week and have appointed Ruben Amorim as the new manager. However, the Portuguese takes charge from November 11 because of a clause in his contract.
Ruben Amorim stepping into a monster job at Manchester United, claims Graeme Souness
Graeme Souness believes that the job at Manchester United is too big for any manager in the world right now. He believes that even Pep Guardiola and Sir Alex Ferguson would have struggled because the club are not run well.
The Liverpool legend added that it is the lowest point in the Red Devils' history right now and said:
"I think it’s a monster job to take on Man United at the moment. Even if Pep Guardiola or Alex Ferguson were to walk in there, it’d be a very difficult job. I think the club are at their lowest point in the history of the Premier League, with the lowest quality group of players they’ve had in that time."
Manchester United paid €11 million in compensation for Ruben Amorim and his Sporting CP coaching staff. They will be in the dugout for the first time when the Red Devils face Ipswich Town on November 24.