Paul Scholes has criticised Manchester United's recent transfer strategy but praised Erik ten Hag for his pragmatic approach at the club.
United have spent a huge amount of money in recent years and there was a great deal of optimism going into last season following the signings of Cristiano Ronaldo, Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane. However, Scholes has questioned just how good that 2021 window was and called for somebody to take responsibility for the club's transfer activity.
"Was it really?" he said on The Overlap when former teammate Gary Neville said how good last summer looked on paper. "You've got a young player from Germany you've spent a lot of money on, who did great in Germany but he was unproven in the best league.
Also read: Dalot hopeful of new contract amid interest from five clubs
"Cristiano was proven, of course he was, but he was 36. Are they great signings?
"And I always think why would a club like Real Madrid let Varane go? There must be something not quite right and if you looked at him last season, he didn’t look right. He was always injured, always something wrong with him. As far as the window went, people got carried away with it because of names.
“I'm trying to think of a transfer window I have enjoyed. [This one] was a complete mess, it looks like they don't have any body who is in charge of doing it. There's nobody that takes responsibility for it. Is it John Murtough, is it the manager, is it someone else?
" It's hard, it's not the easiest thing to do but somebody has to take the ultimate responsibility for it. I think they need someone in charge of it, there might be somebody behind the scenes who does take responsibility but what will happen eventually is the manager will get blamed for it."
Scholes did praise Ten Hag for how he has changed his tactics at United after his play-out-from-the-back approach was ruthlessly exposed in the opening defeats to Brighton and Brentford. After the Dutchman tweaked his ideals for a more pragmatic set-up, his side has gone on to win their next four Premier League games.
“I know managers come with their own philosophies but I think United have their own philosophies that a manager should come into," Scholes continued. "[Louis] Van Gaal playing his possession football, I don't think Man United are a possession football club.
"It was always about substance over style, actually scoring goals, making chances rather than being pretty on the eye. I think even with this new manager now, I think he's stumbled across it.
"I think the Old Trafford crowd they get nervous when the goalkeeper is trying to play it 10 yards to the centre-half, they don't like it because when you talk about a club with a philosophy that is not a Manchester United philosophy, that’s Barcelona, Manchester City. It's Ajax. I don't know if this manager has done it on purpose or if he's just got lucky with it.
"After the Brentford game, he realised, and some of these managers are stubborn, aren't they? Pep [Guardiola] wouldn't change but I think this manager has realised: 'I don't really have the players to do that.'
"He could do it Ajax, of course he could, but after that Brentford game there was a change and he just couldn't do it. Because it's just not Man United. He had to leave Harry Maguire out. It was a brave decision. He’s a brave manager."
READ MORE:
