Paul Scholes agrees with Jamie Carragher that Man Utd transfer was 'absolutely' not needed

Manchester United’s current problems are summed up by Matthijs de Ligt, who was signed for big money this summer, despite not being up to the required standard.

That is the opinion of Jamie Carragher and Paul Scholes, who have both laid into the United defender following the club’s 3-0 thrashing by Tottenham. De Ligt was brought in from Bayern Munich alongside Noussair Mazraoui as both defenders were reunited with their former Ajax manager Erik ten Hag.

De Ligt cost United an initial fee of €45million (£37m), with the possibility of an additional €5m (£4m) in add-ons. He has come straight into Ten Hag’s first choice XI, pushing Harry Maguire onto the bench to play alongside another former Ajax defender, Lisandro Martinez.

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United are 13th in the Premier League, with two wins from six matches, after their embarrassing performance against Spurs. Their defeat owed much to Bruno Fernandes ’ red card, but Brennan Johnson’s first goal from Micky van der Ven’s surging run was partly De Ligt’s fault, according to Carragher.

“The rest of the defence is awful, it always has been when they lose possession,” he said while analysing the goal on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football programme. “But where’s De Ligt? The right-back has come out here but look where De Ligt is! You’ve got to get over.

“In every situation in that first half, two massive chances and the goal, in De Ligt a player they brought in for huge money in the summer. He’s completely out of position all the time so he ends up having to go flying into challenges and then you leave yourself in a situation where you’re going to get yellow cards or red cards.”

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Bayern were more than happy to sell De Ligt – and although Ten Hag denied it – his relationship with the Dutchman was key to United’s decision to sign him. Ten Hag now has five of his former Ajax players in the squad in De Ligt, Mazraoui, Martinez, Andre Onana and Antony.

United spent around £180m in the summer and Scholes has been left furious by his former club’s failures in the transfer market. "When you bring players in, you expect them to be a lot better than who you’ve already got. I don’t see players coming in who are a big difference. De Ligt has come in for Maguire, let’s say, but there’s no big difference there," Scholes told Premier League Productions.

"These are experienced players who United have paid a lot of money for. We need to stop hearing excuses and get on that training pitch and find a way of playing. Find something, give us something!" Asked whether De Ligt is a £50m improvement on Maguire, he replied: “No, absolutely not.”

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