Gary Neville was once again lamenting the state of Manchester United's recruitment
Gary Neville was once again lamenting the state of Manchester United's recruitment
Gary Neville has again taken aim at Manchester United's ownership for the current state of the club's squad - but the Sky Sports pundit appeared to get his United history wrong.
Former United captain Neville has never been shy to call out the dip in standards at Old Trafford in recent seasons, and has regularly lamented the state of the club in his role on television.
Neville was back on punditry duty on Sunday ahead of United's Premier League clash with Arsenal at Old Trafford, and in a section presented from the home dressing room he took aim at the recruitment at the club in recent seasons.
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In recalling an entertaining team from years gone by, Neville said: "A few years ago, United had a team that had (Romelu) Lukaku and (Paul) Pogba and Alexis Sanchez and (Angel) Di Maria. I thought they had fantastic talent and were capable of destroying teams on the day.
"My worry with this group of players, as I look around this dressing room, is they are nowhere near the calibre of players that have failed Manchester United in the last 10 years.
"I say that with some level of kindness. It’s not the most kind thing to say. I genuinely look around this dressing room and I think to myself, how has this club ended up in a position whereby it has recruited, as Ruben Amorim called it — I’ll quote Ruben Amorim — the worst Manchester United team in history?"
Romelu Lukaku and Paul Pogba played together for United, but they didn't play with Angel Di Maria
Romelu Lukaku and Paul Pogba played together for United, but they didn't play with Angel Di Maria
Neville was making the point that United's current crop of players aren't as good as sides they've had previously, but the four players he named - Lukaku, Pogba, Sanchez and Di Maria - never actually played for the club together.
The outlier is Di Maria, who joined United from Real Madrid to great fanfare in the summer of 2014, only to depart for Paris Saint-Germain a year later. Di Maria's Old Trafford career didn't coincide with any of the other three players, with Pogba having left United for Juventus in 2012 before returning in 2016.
The Frenchman was then joined at United by Lukaku in the summer of 2017, while Sanchez joined from Arsenal in a swap deal with Henrikh Mkhitaryan in January 2018.
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