Rio Ferdinand has blasted Manchester United’s recruitment in recent years and says only one signing in the past decade has improved after moving to the club.
The Red Devils look likely to miss out on Champions League football next campaign after losing to Everton on Saturday, with the club now six points adrift of fourth-placed Tottenham with just seven games left.
United are hoping the looming appointment of Erik ten Hag will transform their fortunes, but Ferdinand feels he alone cannot get the club competing for titles again.
The retired defender says there are more structural issues at play behind the scenes, criticising United’s recruitment, and says Bruno Fernandes is the only signing to have bucked that trend in the last 10 years.
‘I just feel that, when you look at it, Man United – you can talk about training grounds and all that stuff – but please, you’ve got to get the football stuff right,’ said Ferdinand on his Vibe with FIVE YouTube show.
‘You’ve got to get the culture at the football club right, you’ve got to get the players that you recruit right.
‘And if you look at the players that have been coming to this football club for the last eight or 10 years, if you were going to do a list of all of them on paper, how many of these players have come to this football club and actually grown in value or got better?’
When it was suggested that only one signing – Fernandes – had increased their reputation, Ferdinand added: ‘I would 100 per cent agree with that.
‘I don’t know any others that have come and you actually go, “Oh he’s actually miles better! We’ll get more money for him now!” There’s none.
‘And that goes down to coaching, that goes down to recruitment, and so those areas need to be improved drastically for us to be able to improve.
‘Because you could go in and buy three or four players this window, but if we’re going to continue in the same vein as what was before, those players that you bring in are going to be declining rather than getting better and improving your team – so that needs to be changed.’
Reflecting on United’s poor result against Everton, he said of the performance: ‘In terms of chances, they don’t look like creating chances, they don’t look like they’re getting anywhere near creating any good chances.
‘And the problem is as well, they put the ball in the box and Cristiano Ronaldo is on his own half the time, by himself – for a centre-back [it’s easy].’
