Gary Neville has torn into Manchester United's abysmal transfer record - and highlighted a major recruitment mistake that the club have repeated this summer under Erik ten Hag.
It's been a rotten 12 months for the Premier League giants, who have lurched from one disaster to the next since the start of last season. But while things have gotten progressively worse for United recently, their powers have been on the wane ever since Sir Alex Ferguson stepped down from his role at the club back in 2013.
United have failed to win a league title since and have gone through a string of high-profile managers - but the club are seemingly still no closer to bringing the glory days back to Old Trafford, with Ten Hag's side currently languishing at the bottom of the Premier League table.
A major factor behind United's decline in recent years has been a severe lack of strategy when it comes to recruitment - something that Neville alluded to on Monday night.
He delivered a scathing assessment of the club's transfer business from the last 10 years, a period where United have spent an estimated £1.2billion. Speaking to Sky Sports, Neville explained: "It's been one of the problems Manchester United have had for 10 years is that they've flip-flopped from managers, strategies and they've allowed managers to control recruitment and that's a massive issue."
Alarmingly, Neville's comments on the club allowing managers to control recruitment come at a time when Ten Hag has been allowed to overrule the Old Trafford hierarchy when it comes to transfers - an approach that has so far yielded mixed results for United, who have been scrutinised for their underwhelming work in the market.
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Ten Hag was given the benefit of the doubt earlier this summer when he vetoed a move for Pau Torres to pursue one of his former Ajax stars, Lisandro Martinez, despite concerns from club scouts over the Argentinian defender's 5ft 9in frame. Already, those concerns have been validated by various people, including Neville, in the wake of Martinez's underwhelming start to life in the Premier League.
Rumoured interest in Marko Arnautovic and Adrien Rabiot - two names that have left United fans majorly underwhelmed - were driven by Ten Hag, who snubbed transfer recommendations from Ralf Rangnick prior to the German's departure earlier this summer and has shown a preference to target players from the Eredivisie.
United have also been criticised for their ponderous approach in the market, but the club have extensively pursued a deal for Frenkie de Jong at Ten Hag's behest for months - even though the Dutch playmaker has hardly shown he has the appetite to reunite with his former boss at Old Trafford.
Ten Hag could well fare better than his predecessors in the market, but giving the Dutchman sole control over transfers rather is a major gamble - and indicates that the Manchester United hierarchy hasn't learned from their previous mistakes.
