“Bad call…” – Jaap Stam agrees with Erik ten Hag over clear Man Utd transfer mistake

Jaap Stam believes that Manchester United have made a ‘bad call’ with a recent transfer sale away from Old Trafford.

Manchester United made five summer signings in the latest transfer window, with Noussair Mazraoui, Joshua Zirkzee, Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt and Manuel Ugarte joining the club.

Those five additions cost the club around £200 million and it meant that sales were necessary to make space in the budget.

One of the players to depart was Academy graduate Scott McTominay, who joined Italian club Napoli for around £25 million.

The Scotsman often split fan opinion with his performances but he was important for Erik ten Hag in the 2023/24 campaign, with multiple match-winning moments.

He has since been excelling at Napoli, with the club sitting just two points away from Atalanta at the top of the Serie A.

Stam slams McTominay sale

The decision to sell McTominay has been criticised by former United defender Jaap Stam, who believes that United should not have let go a player who had a ‘very important influence’.

“Scott McTominay has been a very important influence at Manchester United even though he wasn’t a guaranteed starter,” Stam told Sport Lens.

“He scored goals and had a big impact and those are the players you don’t want to lose as a football club. Leaving might’ve been a good step for him, as is currently being discussed with Marcus Rashford, but he may well have wanted to stay.

“He has been a very important player for Napoli and his confidence is growing because he is starting most games and overall I think selling him was a bad call at United. 

“Sometimes you have to make tough decisions as a club and I understand that, but I wouldn’t have been keen to sell McTominay.”

Ten Hag wanted to keep McTominay at United

This seemed to be an opinion that former United boss Ten Hag agreed with. The Dutchman made it clear that he did not want to sell the 27-year-old in the summer.

While McTominay did not start every game under his reign, Ten Hag appreciated the different attributes the midfielder provided the team with.

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“I’m very happy for Scott. As I said, when he left, I didn’t want this but that’s the rules the club had to deal with,” he told reporters.

“The rules are, I would even say, bad, but that’s the situation created. It forced us to make this decision.”

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