Manchester United’s ‘recruitment is a MESS’, blasts Paul Scholes – as Red Devils icon insists the club are ‘relying more on hope than proven quality’ in a dig at Erik ten Hag’s transfer history

Paul Scholes has slammed Manchester United‘s recruitment and claims they are ‘relying more on hope than proven quality’. 

The Red Devils continued their poor start to the season as they extended their winless run to five matches with a goalless draw at Aston Villa. 

Erik ten Hag‘s side end the weekend in 14th place in the Premier League table with a goal difference of minus-three despite heavy recruitment over the summer. 

Joshua Zirkzee, Matthijs De Ligt, Manuel Ugarte, Leny Yoro and Noussair Mazraoui all joined the club after a dismal campaign which saw United finish eighth last season. 

However, Scholes believes the former two have not made impacts and heavily criticised Ten Hag and the club’s recruitment strategy. 

Paul Scholes has slammed Manchester United’s recruitment strategy this summer

The Red Devils now sit 14th in the table after a goalless draw against Aston Villa on Sunday

Scholes says United are ‘relying more on hope than proven quality’ in a dig at Erik ten Hag’s transfer history

The former United midfielder also questioned the roles of Rasmus Hojlund and Lisandro Martinez, who were both signed by the Dutchman.  

‘In forward areas especially, I just don’t think the quality is there. We go back to the most successful teams, they’re capable of scoring goals. What have we scored? Five goals in seven games,’ Scholes told SuperSport.

‘Now we had three or four forwards who could get you 20 goals so you’re looking at 80 goals a season there and I just don’t see that in the forward line at Manchester United. Look, Hojlund does alright but is he gonna score you 20 goals? I don’t think so.

‘Zirkzee… what is he? Is he a No.9 or a No.10? Is he going to get you 20 goals? I don’t think so. I think they’re relying more on hope than actual proven quality and they spent so much money as well.

‘It’s a ridiculous amount of money and some of them can’t get in the team! You think of Ugarte coming into the club who was supposed to change the way the midfield was… he didn’t play him.

‘De Ligt, £50m and he didn’t play him. Jonny Evans has come in at 36 years old instead of him. Martinez, Ten Hag brought him into the club. What’s he thinking today? Jonny Evans is playing, Maguire started, [Victor] Lindelof comes on before him. It’s just a recruitment mess really.’ 

Scholes also accused United of using ‘survival tactics’ instead of going out to win at Villa Park. 

He added: ‘When you don’t have a style of play and you don’t know how to play, or the way you want to play, it’s very difficult to choose players. With Liverpool it was quite simple to buy, you know what you’ve got to do. They play 4-3-3 a. d you can recruit for that 

The former midfielder also says Matthijs de Ligt (right) and Joshua Zirkzee (left) have not made impacts since their arrivals

Scholes questioned whether Danish striker Rasmus Hojlund has 20 goals in him per season

‘But when you don’t have a style of play, you don’t know how you’re going to play, it changes from week to week, you’re almost throwing balls in the air and saying, “He looks a good player, we’ll try and get him”.

‘It’s a point for United, going to a tough ground under a lot of pressure. I never really felt like they went there to try and win the game. It was more of a survival tactic more than anything.

‘But from everything we’ve said before the game, United were quite tough to play against today and you have to take into account the midweek fixtures. Villa had a big lift from Bayern Munich, winning that game, big atmosphere.

‘They struggled to really live up that today. You could see they probably suffered a bit. For Manchester United, it’s difficult to go away in Europe on Thursday night and it was a tough game against Porto with ten men for some of the game so I think the game probably reflected the midweek that both clubs had.’