Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag was ‘badly let down’ by the Glazers in the January transfer window, according to Gary Neville and Jamie Redknapp. The Sky Sports duo agreed that Ten Hag’s squad needed strengthening if they were to maintain a Premier League title challenge.
United all but certainly lost any hope they had of catching Arsenal and Manchester City by limping to a 2-0 defeat at Newcastle on Sunday. Former right-back Neville believes that the Red Devils’ issues stem back to the club’s owners completing their transfer business on the cheap.
Cristiano Ronaldo was replaced by Burnley loanee Wout Weghorst, who has been inconsistent since his shock move to Old Trafford. Neville pointed out that United had plenty of time from Ronaldo’s departure to acquire a world-class replacement, saying: “He was badly let down in January.
“That Ronaldo interview that was done with Piers Morgan, I think was done in November. And he was always going to leave at the start of the World Cup. Manchester United then had six weeks before the transfer window began and they made a conscious decision not to give Erik ten Hag the money – because they haven’t got the money.
“They made a conscious decision to say you have to bring in someone on loan and he was left then with [no] options – who’s going to loan Manchester United a world class striker in January? So they ended up with Weghorst.
“I don’t blame Weghorst at all, I think he’s done a really good job. He obviously isn’t good enough to be a Manchester United striker, but Erik ten Hag was doing really well for the Manchester United players and he needed support in January with a top class striker.
“They lost Ronaldo, they lost [Edinson] Cavani last summer, [Anthony] Martial was injured – you cannot play without a centre forward. To play football really well your centre forward has to play really well and your goalkeeper – it’s just a rule – and he (Weghorst) doesn’t always play well so for me, he (Ten Hag) was let down badly in January by the club in the sense that they’ve obviously got this 900 million quids-worth of debt, and they couldn’t afford to bring in anybody else. That’s the harsh reality of it.”
Neville’s Sky colleague Redknapp was in agreement. The former Liverpool ace believes United need at least an elite striker and another midfielder in the summer transfer window if Ten Hag’s side are going to compete for the Premier League title in 2023-24.
After Weghorst performed poorly against Newcastle, Redknapp said: “I don’t want to jump on [Weghorst]… but he’s not good enough. If Man Utd want to be competing to win titles they need to go and find a top striker. They’ve needed one for a long while now alongside Rashford.
“You’re never as far away [from success] as you think. In midfield you also have to remember they’ve had no Casemiro today, no [Christian] Eriksen – two really important players – because you’re not scared of that Manchester United midfield today. You’re not scared of playing against Sabitzer or McTominay right now.”
The ex-England midfielder added: “They’ve been papering over the cracks for a little while and if you keep going to the end of the season, you creep into the top four, you’ve won a trophy, everything’s great but they are short. He needs help, he needs a few players to come in because they’re not going to be that far away. We already know he is a top manager because he has changed a lot of things already at that football club.”
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