Roy Keane has named four players who hindered Manchester United's progress last season.
Erik ten Hag has brought in nine signings in his first two transfer windows as Reds boss - albeit Martin Dubravka has already left - but Keane said the exits of a handful of stars in the summer aided the club's turnaround.
United saw a number of first-team players depart during the off-season, with four leaving for nothing. One of those was Paul Pogba, who left for Juventus and was named in the club’s matchday squad for the first time on Sunday.
READ MORE: United player ratings vs Forest
He is yet to play a game for the Old Lady - who have just been deducted 15 points in Serie A for transfer irregularities - after picking up a knee injury that forced him to miss the World Cup.
Another player named by Keane was Jesse Lingard, who was denied a second appearance at Old Trafford this season when he got injured in Nottingham Forest’s warm-up ahead of their second League Cup semi-final leg with United on Wednesday evening.
Speaking to Sky Sports after United's 5-0 aggregate win, Keane hailed Ten Hag for the work he was doing at United and named the players he felt were hindering the club towards the end of last season. “If Manchester United are successful, it’s going to be down to their squad,” he said.
“There’s definitely been a big change, obviously they’re winning football matches which helps. But I think in the summer when the new manager came in and obviously United were rock bottom and we’re talking about the recruitment - I think what was key was the players who left.
“I’m not knocking all these players but they were experienced players - Pogba, [Juan] Mata, [Nemanja] Matic, Jesse Lingard, lads who have been around and knew they were leaving. They knew a few months [beforehand] that they would be leaving, that their contracts were up, and I think that wasn’t helping.
“There definitely feels around the club a new energy and the manager has obviously put down a few markers after such a bad start to the season and that momentum and feel-good factor is certainly back at the club. You feel the energy levels are slightly different.”
READ NEXT:
