Wayne Rooney has hit out at Manchester United’s recruitment pre-Ineos, labelling it as ‘horrendous’ in a damning assessment and highlighting three transfers in particular as ‘mistakes’.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his Ineos delegate took over football operations of the Red Devils almost two years ago when they acquired an initial 25 per cent stake in the club from the Glazer family.
Before that period, football operations had largely been controlled by former executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward – who was in that role from 2012-2021.
And club legend Rooney believes that period saw the Old Trafford outfit make numerous errors in the transfer market.
Rooney, who played for the club for 13 years between 2004-2017, has pinpointed Romelu Lukaku (£75million) as well as former team-mates Paul Pogba (£89m) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (free transfer) as poor recruitment.
Speaking on The Overlap, he said: ‘The recruitment at Manchester United before last summer was horrendous.
Wayne Rooney has labelled Manchester United’s buys over the past decade as ‘horrendous’
Rooney named Paul Pogba (centre left) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (centre right) as two examples
Romelu Lukaku joined the club in a £75million transfer from Everton but failed to truly excel
‘They were just bringing big names in – you look at Lukaku, Zlatan, Pogba – they’re good players but they were just bringing names in and spending enormous amounts of money.
‘It’s going to take a bit of time to get over those mistakes.’
United’s approach to the transfer market has changed since Ineos’ arrival – focusing on either Premier League-proven players or young talents from abroad.
This has been by this summer’s recruitment with Bryan Mbuemo, Matheus Cunha and Senne Lammens all establishing themselves as first-team players under Ruben Amorim.
That trio have helped United gain some momentum this season with the club unbeaten in five Premier League matches as they sit seventh in the Premier League table on 18 points.
And Rooney believes there are positives now at his former club – adding that Ruben Amorim’s side could potentially qualify for the Champions League next season.
‘If you look at Manchester United over the last ten years, the players have been absolutely battered,’ he continued.
‘Now they’ve got a couple of results and you can see a bit of confidence coming back.
Rooney believes United can qualify for the Champions League this term after an upturn in form
‘You can even say that in the manager. They’re gradually getting better, there’s definitely been some improvement.
‘It’s been really tough for Ruben Amorim and I’ve been critical of him. We are seeing them improve though and players are getting to know each other a bit better.
‘There’s some promising signs and although they’re not going to win the league they could possibly sneak into the top-four.’
