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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Matt Verri

Paul Scholes questions Manchester United’s decision to spend big on ‘unproven’ Jadon Sancho

Paul Scholes has hit out at Manchester United’s transfer policy as he called for the club to install someone to oversee recruitment going forward.

In what was a largely chaotic window, Man United were linked with a number of Ajax players as Erik ten Hag unsurprisingly looked to bring in players he was familiar with, while much of the summer was spent on an unsuccessful pursuit of Frenkie de Jong.

Antony and Lisandro Martinez arrived from Ten Hag’s former club, the winger for an initial fee in the region of £82million, while Casemiro, Christian Eriksen and Tyrell Malacia were also brought in.

It comes a year after United signed Cristiano Ronaldo, Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane, three signings that were expected to catapult the club to a serious title challenge under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

That of course did not materialise, with Sancho managing just five goals in all competitions during his first season at Old Trafford, as first Solskjaer and then Ralf Rangnick failed to get any sort of positive run from the squad.

Scholes fears Ten Hag could find himself in trouble too, as the club legend questioned the decisions United have made in the transfer window over recent seasons.

“Jadon Sancho was a young player who Manchester United spent a lot of money on, who was unproven in the league,” Scholes told The Overlap.

“And why would a club like Real Madrid let Varane go? If you looked at him last season, he didn’t look right.

“I didn’t think it was a great transfer window. Nobody at the club is taking responsibility for it. This year, Casemiro was done over two days.

“I wonder if it was the manager’s signing. A lot of money, a long contract. I think they need to put someone in charge of recruitment. Eventually, the manager will get blamed for it.”

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