Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been backed to axe 10 players from the Manchester United squad in upcoming transfer windows. Former Liverpool striker Dean Saunders has given a damning verdict on the Red Devils despite their comeback win over Aston Villa on Boxing Day.
United announced on Christmas Eve that they had reached an agreement for Ratcliffe to acquire a 25 per cent shareholding in the club. It brought an end to a long-running takeover saga at Old Trafford.
The club’s first match since the announcement saw Erik ten Hag’s side come from two goals down to beat Villa 3-2 at Old Trafford. However, Saunders still believes major reconstruction is needed in the squad.
The pundit has named 10 players he thinks should be moved on when possible. He said on talkSPORT: “[Marcus] Rashford has been there too long. [Anthony] Martial, I’ll drive him to the airport. Antony, drive him to the airport.
Click here to join our Man Utd WhatsApp community to be the first to receive breaking and exclusive United news.
“Luke Shaw has been there too long. [Diogo] Dalot’s not good enough. [Raphael] Varane, he’s a good player obviously but it’s not worked for him. Ten Hag’s tried to get rid of Varane.
“Jonny Evans is not good enough now, so there’s the back four. [Aaron] Wan-Bissaka, he’s tried to get rid of him. He’s got rid of Fred. [Scott] McTominay, the manager has obviously shown he doesn’t think he’s good enough, but he gets goals.
“He’s not good enough to play for Man United, in my opinion. If you play for Man United in midfield, you’ve got to be one of the best players in the world in midfield. You’re not playing for Crystal Palace!”
Saunders later added Jadon Sancho as the 10th player on his list, continuing: “I’m just thinking off the top of my head… Sancho, Antony, Martial, you’re looking at what, £200million or something like that just for them? Passengers. Absolute passengers.”
Saunders believes that recruitment has been the main problem at United in recent years. He claims their rivals’ transfer business has put them to shame.
The Welshman said: “The secret for me, the secret of football – if there is one – is sign good players, which is harder than it sounds, and get them to work hard. That’s what Liverpool are falling back on right now.
“Man City are the same. They always fall back on… ‘even if our passing is off and we’re not finishing chances, we’re hard to play against because we’ll work hard’.
“Man United, for me, don’t work hard enough. There are a lot of players there who have survived five managers and they’ve got to leave the club. Obviously the manager is trying to get rid of a lot of them and the players know as well.”
