Eric Cantona has become the latest former Manchester United player to question his old club's pulling power in the transfer market.
Cantona, 56, quickly became a cult hero at Old Trafford after joining the club from Leeds back in 1992 and the Frenchman was influential in a United side that won four Premier League titles in five years under the guidance of Sir Alex Ferguson.
Since then, United have fallen on tough times. The arrival of Erik ten Hag has improved the club's fortunes, with United currently on course for a top-four finish this term. But Ten Hag's hands are tied in the January transfer window, with the Dutchman restricted to loan deals after spending in excess of £200million in the summer.
United are poised to complete the signing of Burnley striker Wout Weghorst, who struggled to make an impact in the Premier League after joining the Clarets last January but caught the eye for the Netherlands at the World Cup and has impressed at Besiktas.
Cantona was not aware of Weghorst when he was quizzed on the striker, but admitted that things have changed so much at Manchester United, that the club could no longer be expected to attract top players. He said: "During the time of Alex Ferguson if you wanted a player, the best in the world, he would come to Manchester United because they were winning in England and Europe. Manchester United were the biggest club in the world and they had the money to buy any type of player.
"Now it is different because the best players want to play in a team to win things and United are not in the position to be able to choose the best ones because the best ones won't come to United.
"So you have to be clever. Clever like Liverpool. They took [Sadio] Mane and [Mohamed] Salah, not the best players in the world, but with a great team and a great atmosphere, together they won things. And then Mane and Salah became the best players in the world. That's a great example for United."
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Cantona's verdict is eerily similar to that of Rio Ferdinand: another Old Trafford favourite. Speaking back in the summer, Ferdinand bemoaned the fact that United were no longer one of the big players in the transfer market.
Ferdinand said back in August: "Most people have accepted Manchester United are not the powerhouses they once were in the transfer market. They aren't going to a player and saying, 'This is the badge. We have Champions League football'. The market of players that they are in for is very different.
"I don't think United are going to the table if Kylian Mbappe becomes available. I don't think they would have any belief that he would come. But is this current group going to be enough to move the dials? I don't think it is.
"The story that needs to be sold to new players is that you can come and try to bring back the glory days. It is an unbelievable incentive — but the project has got to be right."
