Gary Neville slams Man United for their ‘baffling’ transfer policy

Gary Neville has hit out at Manchester United’s rudderless transfer policy, as the Red Devils continued their disastrous start to the Premier League season. 

The legendary former United right-back was speaking during the club’s horror trip to Brentford where they lost 4-0 to start the season with back-to-back defeats for the first time in 30 years.

United put in a shocking performance at the Gtech Community Stadium, having found themselves 4-0 down inside just 35 minutes.

A goalkeeping howler from David de Gea allowed a strike from Josh Dasilva after 10 minutes to creep in at the near post, before a defensive mix-up from a goal kick allowed Mathias Jensen to double the Bees’ lead eight minutes later.

United barely reacted, with Ben Mee heading home at the far post after half-hour, before Bryan Mbeumo struck low following a swift counter attack 10 minutes before the break. 

Neville criticised the club’s new chief executive Richard Arnold for not having a recruitment plan in place for incoming players before Erik ten Hag took the job as manager in the summer.

‘It’s a nightmare,’ he said while commentating for Sky Sports. ‘He’s been a few months in the job. And what a job there is to do. Above him and below him. They can’t get the players in. The people above him are now overlooking an embedded rot. 

‘You’ve got to have your own recruitment strategy. You can’t just do what the manager wants. That’s not a strategy. Obviously if they have a player he has a connection with you have a look at him, but the player he has a connection with they can’t get, Frenkie De Jong.

‘It’s a real achievement to spend a billion and be this bad. We’ve been saying this for 12 months. It doesn’t take much to dismantle this United team.

‘You just need a little bit of organisation and a little bit of fight. They’re flaky like you wouldn’t believe. They crumble like jelly.

‘The only decent thing about United at the moment is those fans, and they’ve had enough.’

United have struggled to get their No 1 target De Jong who has previously worked with Ten Hag at Ajax.

But the Barcelona midfielder has been hesitant over joining the Red Devils from Barcelona, while United’s Premier League rivals Chelsea are now also interested in the Holland midfielder. 

Ten Hag raided his former club to sign Lisandro Martinez for £50million, but he was substituted at half-time on Saturday having struggled to adapt in west London.

Eriksen was a free transfer from Brentford and is struggling as a holding midfielder, while the other summer arrival in left-back Tyrell Malacia, a £13.5million signing from Feyenoord, was brought on at half-time.

More to follow…