Former Manchester United midfielder Nemanja Matic has made his feelings clear about a transfer mistake the Old Trafford club have made.
Manchester United have had a difficult start to the new season, with just one victory in their opening five games in all competitions.
Ruben Amorim’s team are struggling despite a lot of transfer activity, both in terms of incomings and outgoings.
Many players in recent years have gone on to succeed away from Old Trafford after struggling at the club and that has led to criticism over those exits.
The most significant example is the sale of Scott McTominay to Napoli last summer, with the Scotsman going onto win the Serie A Player of the Year in his debut campaign.
Matic agrees with Ten Hag about huge United transfer mistake
McTominay has excelled at Napoli since he arrived last year and it was a transfer that former United boss Erik ten Hag did not want to happen.
The Dutchman suggested that players like McTominay are needed at Old Trafford but he had to be sold for financial reasons, and this is a viewpoint that Nemanja Matic completely agrees with.
Matic worked alongside McTominay in his final years at Old Trafford and claimed that it was a bad move for United when the midfielder left.
He has now stated that it is ‘very difficult’ for the club to replace a player like McTominay and that he was one of the best players at Old Trafford.
“Years ago, I said something on social media about McTominay, that I was sad to see him leave Man United. I was sure he was probably one of the Red Devils’ best, and I said it’s very difficult to find players like him,” Matic told Tuttomercatoweb.
“[He is a] perfect mix of old and new style. Now he’s experienced, everyone has seen that he’s fantastic.”
The real problem with McTominay exit
Even though McTominay is shining in Italy, it wasn’t a terrible decision to let him depart the club at the time. It was clear that he was better further up the field rather in deep midfield and that is where Bruno Fernandes operated.
The problem was that United replaced the academy graduate with Manuel Ugarte, who has shown that he simply isn’t good enough to succeed at Old Trafford.
If that money was put to better use and a top midfielder was signed then United would probably not see the sale of McTominay as much of a mistake. But with the midfield at the club now underperforming, it is much easier to scrutinise the decision.
In the end, it all comes down to recruitment, and while there seems to be some improvements in this department under INEOS, this was a clear failing.
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