Gary Neville thinks Manchester United must sign at least five players in the summer to replace ones who are ‘not good enough’.
The United legend believes Ruben Amorim is being hamstrung by the stars – seemingly including one who only arrived in the winter.
United played out a drab 0-0 draw with derby rivals Manchester City on Sunday, registering just two shots on target in front of the Old Trafford fans.
Neville launched into an impassioned rant after the game and claimed that it was a ‘robotic’ performance, an assessment which Amorim clapped back at, calling the former full-back ‘critical of everything.’
But Neville continued to tear into his old club afterwards on Sky Sports, claiming five players need to be replaced.
‘From a United perspective, I get why he’s gone back into a low block. But that’s what we’ve seen from Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Erik Ten Hag,’ he said.
Gary Neville says five Manchester United players are ‘not good enough’ for Ruben Amorim
He claims that their ‘three up front’ and the ‘two wing-backs’ are holding Amorim back
Left wing-back Patrick Dorgu only arrived in the recent transfer window – as a role specialist
‘They’ve all come in with the intention of playing high-press, high-energy football, but all end up going back to a low block in big games.
‘I do understand why Ruben Amorim’s done that today, with the players he’s got, because he hasn’t got the players to adapt.
‘They need five new players straight away before you even think about the rest of it.
‘The three up front are not good enough and the two wing-backs, they’re not good enough. They need five players. They need to serve him with five players who are good enough in this system to be able to play his system the way he wants.’
Neville appears to be calling out Rasmus Hojlund, Alejandro Garnacho, Joshua Zirkzee, Diogo Dalot, and Patrick Dorgu, who only joined in the last transfer window.
Bruno Fernandes did start in the front three, but it seems unlikely Neville would be hinting at him given how complimentary he has been of him. ‘He is only United’s real player of absolute quality,’ said the Englishman.
While the woes of the forward three are well documented, Dalot comes in for criticism less frequently, given he won the Players’ Player of the Year for the 2023-24 season.
Across 85 collective Premier League appearances this season, Hojlund, Garnacho, and Zirkzee have managed just 10 goals.
United only managed two shots on target in a drab Manchester derby draw at Old Trafford
Neville believes that Ruben Fernandes is United’s ‘only player of absolute quality’
Joshua Zirkzee (pictured), Rasmus Hojlund, and Alejandro Garnacho have scored 10 Premier League goals between them this season – despite playing a cumulative total of 85 games
Diogo Dalot, on the right flank, was United’s Players’ Player of the Season for 2023-24 but did not escape Neville’s umbrella of critique
Amorim hit back at Neville for being ‘critical of everything’ after the 0-0 draw with Man City
Their ability on the ball is evident and often lauded but United have been sub-par at creating and taking chances.
Earlier this season, Hojlund went 22 hours and 19 minutes without finding the net.
What will encourage Amorim is that United have enjoyed something of an uptick in results.
The Red Devils have only lost two of their last nine games in all competitions – once on penalties to Fulham and the other to Nottingham Forest last week – but they have only won three of those.
‘In the moment it’s still really hard every day, but of course you can imagine that the next season is going to be so much different,’ Amorim said on Sunday.
‘That’s why I’m always saying that I’m in a rush because we are suffering a lot. Everybody here is suffering a lot with all these changes, and we have to show something in the next year.
‘We have so many aspects to improve: build-up, transition, decisions in the final third. Every player can improve. They are here because they showed something at other clubs. They have the quality but we are still a team that plays on transition and we need to spend more time in final third to have more opportunities.’
