Gary Neville "wasn't disappointed" that Manchester United missed out on Cody Gakpo as he believed the forward was too similar to their current personnel.
The Dutch star will move to the Premier League having opted to join Liverpool from PSV. The Reds have paid £44m to secure his services after his impressive performances in the Eredivisie and then at the World Cup. United had been interested in Gakpo in the summer, but will now have to look elsewhere.
Erik ten Hag is hoping to bring in a striker to bolster his ranks - and that desire has only increased following the sudden departure of Cristiano Ronaldo. Gakpo was a player on his radar, but Neville felt the 23-year-old didn't offer anything they don't already have.
He told Sky Sports : "I think it fits the profile of what Liverpool have tried to sign in Mane, Salah and Jota. That kind of £40m bracket of signing, what Jurgen Klopp said over there we normally get good value out of our signings and improve them and that’s the most important thing.
"When he works with potential… Nunez is different in terms of the fee but we talked about that the other day, the raw attributes, speed, agility, willingness, great ethic and you work with Jurgen Klopp for two or three years he’s developed players who have been good at others clubs, in Salah and Mane, into world class players.
"So he’s coming to a club with a proven track record of that. In terms of the Manchester United side of things, I saw him at the World Cup I actually didn’t think Manchester United did need, I know a lot of fans have been disappointed. But with Rashford, Garnacho, Sancho, Antony, Jurgen Klopp said himself he’s better off that left side, you can say Martial as well so from that rivalry.
"I think Liverpool do need him. I wasn’t as disappointed as a United fan from watching in the World Cup because I thought he was a similar player to what they had."
United have by no means been prolific in the league this term - Rashford is their leading scorer on five goals with Anthony Martial and Antony both scoring on three occasions. The club's hefty summer spree is set to hamper them in the coming weeks with their finances unable to match their rivals.
Ten Hag has said on their search for new recruits: "We have a squad, we have players who are matching our criteria but with all the games that are coming, it is a tough competition. We want to be also playing in all of the competitions by winning in games and cups as well.
"So you need players, you need numbers to cover, so we need good players, not only numbers, you need quality players to cover that. You need also competition [so] that you can make technical choices, so we are looking for the right player for our squad and that has to match the sporting criteria but also the financial criteria."
