[ad_1]
10
Paul Scholes made his feelings known on Manchester United’s transfer pursuit of Bayern Munich centre-back Matthijs de Ligt.
De Ligt was identified as a Man United target early on in the transfer window, with the player reportedly eager to move to Old Trafford, allegedly telling his friends that he wanted to complete the move as soon as possible.
But while United were previously confident about making the transfer happen, the club hit a roadblock in negotiations with Bayern, specifically over De Ligt’s steep £43 million price tag.
While an anticlimactic conclusion should United decide to back away from the deal, one club legend who would favour a breakdown in talks is Paul Scholes.
Speaking to The Overlap, the former United midfielder opened up about his true feelings about the De Ligt transfer race.
“Manchester United are talking about bringing players in who can’t get in their (current) team,” Scholes explained. “From Bayern Munich, he has not played for them. That has to be a big concern for me, especially when Eric Dier is playing in front of him. I’m not joking, that is a massive concern for me.”
Scholes also expressed his dissatisfaction with De Ligt’s price tag, considering it to be excessive. “When you’re bringing players in for £40-£50million just because he played for him three or four years ago. Juventus got rid of him, he wasn’t good enough for Juventus. He’s obviously not been good enough at Bayern Munich, so he’s coming to us as like a second-rate defender now.”
It wasn’t just De Ligt that Scholes expressed concern over, however. The United legend also expressed a lack of confidence in striker Rasmus Hojlund and new signing Joshua Zirkzee.
“You’ve also got to look at forward players. Haaland, could he score 25 goals for the season? I’d be amazed,” Scholes admitted before claiming, “When you look at someone like Ivan Toney, if he could come to United if he could score 25? I think he could.”
While Scholes admitted that he thinks Hojlund is “really good,” he added that the Dane has been placed under immense pressure from United, being asked to be the number nine at his young age.
Speaking on Zirkzee, Scholes was candid, admitting, “I’ll be honest, I’ve never seen him play.” He continued: “I don’t think he’s [Zirkzee] a great goal scorer where he’s been,” before warning that life will be even tougher for him in the Premier League.
For a United legend to come forward and criticise the club’s recent transfer decisions is a worrying sign, especially given recent transfer flops including the likes of Antony and Jadon Sancho, both of whom were costly signings.
Ultimately, Scholes’ words will ring loudly in the ears of United fans who will hope that their club can avoid repeating past mistakes as they look to build a strong squad for the future.
Want to be the first to hear breaking Man United news? For carefully selected, crucial updates, join our WhatsApp channel: https://bit.ly/United-Breaking-News.
[ad_2]
