Rio Ferdinand: Every Man Utd signing in 10 years not good enough, except...

Robin Bairner

• 16 May 2024 13:30 BST
• 3 min read

Manchester United legends Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney have both hit out over the performance of the club in recent seasons.

The Red Devils will likely miss out on European football next season, despite beating Newcastle 3-2 on Wednesday. Erik ten Hag’s side sit eighth in the Premier League and, embarrassingly, have a negative goal difference ahead of a trip to Brighton on the final day of the season.

Ferdinand has been particularly scathing of Man Utd’s recruitment over the course of the last decade, claiming only three players have been up to the level required by the club.

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“When you look at the recruitment, I think there's only three players that I can remember coming in and then going: ‘Okay, they've played at a level that you would have expected,’” Ferdinand told The Sports Agents podcast.

« Bruno Fernandes, Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The only three players I think that you go: ‘Actually I saw consistently what I expected to see from them.’

“Everyone else just fell well short. For whatever reason it is, they just haven't hit a standard you expect them to come in for. There's no value in them in what you expect. So they have to get to the bottom of that.”

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Rooney urges squad overhaul

Rooney is similarly unimpressed with this group of players and says that during Ineos’ rebuild, which he warns will not be instant, there is only one senior member of the squad who should be retained.

“You have to build the team around Bruno Fernandes,” he told Sky Sports.

“He's the one player with quality, he has got fight in him. I think the young players and then... all the other players get rid of them.

“I think you keep the young players, you keep Bruno and I think it has to be a massive clear out. It has to be.

“It is not going to be in one year. I think it has got to be over the next couple of years.”