Wayne Rooney says Man United made "horrendous" transfer mistake signing three of his teammates for £164m
Wayne Rooney has said that Man United made a mistake signing three of his former teammates whilst he was at the club.
Man United’s transfer strategy in recent seasons hasn’t been the best. They spent a lot of money under Erik Ten Hag and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, bringing in players such as Antony, Jadon Sancho, Rasmus Hojlund and more for a lot of money, and later selling them on for next to nothing.
It was a better summer in terms of recruitment for United, as they managed to bring in Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha among others, both of whom have made positive impacts on Ruben Amorim’s squad, and seem to be good bits of business. Senne Lammens has also proven a clever buy.
However, former Man United star Wayne Rooney has said the recruitment issues go beyond the last five years, as he said the club made a mistake signing three of his teammates back in 2016/17, which has cost them £164m in the long-term.
Rooney says Pogba, Ibrahimovic and Lukaku signings were a mistake
Back in the 2016/17 season under manager Jose Mourinho, Man United went all in during the transfer window, as they wanted to bring in some of the world’s best players to help Jose bring the club their best success since Sir Alex Ferguson.
They signed Paul Pogba for £89m, Romelu Lukaku for £75m, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic on a free transfer, but with astronomical wages, and despite the trio playing well for United at times, their former teammate Wayne Rooney believes that signing the three of them for £164m was a ‘horrendous’ mistake.
Rooney said on the Overlap: “The recruitment at Manchester United before last summer was horrendous. 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.”
Despite his negativity about United in the past, Rooney does believe that things are getting better, as he continued: “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.”
Bryan Mbeumo: Man United’s best signing in years?
When you look at signings who made an instant impact for United in recent seasons, Zlatan has to be up there, alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, and Bruno Fernandes. But when you consider that Mbeumo joined just in the summer, you could argue the impact he’s shown already suggests he may be a better signing than all three.
Mbeumo has scored five goals and provided one assist so far in the Premier League, and looks to be United’s best attacking threat. He is great on the ball, likes to create chances, and also has shown he has a proven knack for scoring big goals in the Premier League.
Considering that Man United were the fifth-lowest scoring team in the Premier League last year, and they are now joint-third, Mbeumo’s impact speaks for itself, he has really been an excellent bit of recruitment.