Manchester United’s Ineos Recruitment: A Missed Opportunity?

Ineos recruitment at Manchester United ‘not good enough’

Graeme Souness has slammed Manchester United co-owners Ineos for the club’s recruitment in the summer transfer window.

Manchester United spent around £200m on new signings in the summer but sit 14th in the Premier League table after nine games, with the decision made to sack Erik ten Hag on Monday.

The Red Devils are closing in on the appointment of Ruben Amorim from Sporting Lisbon and Souness said the 39-year-old will be tasked with leading United out of ‘their lowest point in the history of the Premier League’.

The former Liverpool midfielder was critical of the club’s first transfer window under a new hierarchy brought in by Ineos.

He said the summer signings of Manuel Ugarte, Matthijs de Ligt and Joshua Zirkzee are not ‘good enough’ and claimed Manchester United have their ‘lowest quality group of players’ of the Premier League era.

Speaking on the Up Front podcast, Souness said: “I think the club are at their lowest point in the history of the Premier League, with the lowest quality group of players they’ve had in that time.

“I look at Manchester United since Ineos came in and it’s screaming out to me that they don’t really get football. They’ve now got their so-called footballing people in charge, in Dan Ashworth and Jason Wilcox, and I can’t believe for a minute that they didn’t have an input on the players they signed in the summer.

“They brought in Manuel Ugarte, Matthijs de Ligt and Joshua Zirkzee. If they think those players are good enough for United, they’re wrong.

“They’ve still allowed £200m to be spent on players like that. They’ve had one summer at the club and look what they’ve done with it. That has to fall at Ashworth’s door.

“Ruben Amorim’s job now is to get the best out of this group of players, in whatever system that may be. He is walking into what is a very difficult job.”