It was a scathing criticism, but terribly accurate.
As everyone connected to Manchester United went through a new fit of introspection after the grim defeat of Everton last Saturday, Rio Ferdinand made a bold statement.
The former defender said that of all United’s signings in the last decade, only Bruno Fernandes has developed as a player during his time at the club.
Rio Ferdinand has suggested that Bruno Fernandes is the only player to sign with Manchester United in the last decade, which has improved while at Old Trafford
Ferdinand said Fernandes has improved his game since arriving at Old Trafford in 2020.
“I don’t know anyone who has come and said to yourself, ‘Oh, he’s actually miles better!’ We’ll get more money for him now! There is none, he said.
It took Cristiano Ronaldo a hat-trick to see United over Norwich on Saturday and Ferdinand’s point proved to be true again.
With United spending around £ 1.15 billion on new signings since the start of Sir Alex Ferguson’s last season as manager a decade ago, this is an ugly indictment of how a hugely successful club has been allowed to drop out.
In those 10 years, there have been four managers and five to come this summer, a steady stream of largely inadequate players and only a handful of trophies.
During the years of Ferguson’s fame, almost every player would improve during his stay at Old Trafford. As the saying goes, the only way after the fall of United and for many years it was true.
But since 2012, as Ferdinand said, almost every player involved – including many at a huge price – has either trampled on water or deteriorated while at the club.
Sir Alex Ferguson signed, lifting the Premier League trophy in the 2012-13 season
10 years of drift and decline followed, with United now miles away from winning trophies
And a few things illustrate more clearly the lack of common thinking and the lack of a consistent culture as United cuts and changes managers than this huge lack of improvement in the players.
Fernandez is truly an exception. Since arriving in the middle of the 2019-20 season, the Portuguese playmaker is generally a first-class player for United.
His transfer fee can now reach £ 68 million with all the extras, but that seems advantageous, certainly compared to other big money coming to United.
Even allowing for a drop in goals and assists this season, not to mention a strange moment, Fernandes both improved on United and was better off being at United compared to the man who arrived from Sporting Lisbon.
Not that United will want to sell the 27-year-old in the near future, but according to Ferdinand’s logic, he will be one of the few who will not only keep, but also increase his transfer value.
Fernandes was excellent for United last season, but often looked disappointed during that campaign
There weren’t many. If you go back 10 years, it can be argued that Robin van Persie briefly improved after moving from Arsenal for 24 million pounds in 2012, finally winning the Premier League title.
But the Dutch striker was already a top-class striker and a major factor in his agreement that the change was the opportunity to work under Ferguson.
His last two seasons with United – after Ferguson’s retirement – were plagued by injuries and he failed to maintain the same standards of performance.
Juan Mata, signing despair in the middle of David Moyes’ ill-fated season in 2013-14, could be added to Ferdinand’s list.
For two or three years, he was a major player in the United midfield and helped them win the FA Cup in 2016 and the Europa League the following year.
Robin van Persie achieves his ambition to win the title before his time at United retires
But let’s not forget that Mata scored 33 goals and gave 58 assists in two and a half seasons at Chelsea, helping them win the Champions League, so it was a continuing achievement rather than an improvement.
A more serious argument can be made for Ander Herrera, who signed with Athletic Bilbao for £ 32 million in 2014 and will have almost 200 appearances for United in five seasons.
He was the club’s player of the year in 2016-17, when he won the EFL Cup and the Europa League, which speaks volumes about his abilities.
The other candidate for improvement is Luke Shaw, but it took a long time after trouble with injury and a frosty relationship with Jose Mourinho.
Ander Herrera falls into the very small category of players who have improved with United
Luke Shaw took some time to improve, but thrived under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
Only under the more constructive coach of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Shaw achieved the best form in his career last season. Although compatible with several others, its shape has declined in recent months.
But that’s all. As Ferdinand hints, the list of players who went down after coming to United is much longer.
United paid the world record of £ 89 million for Paul Pogba, but it is difficult to say that he became a world-class footballer during his stay there
Paul Pogba is a great example, the man United broke the world transfer record to sign with Juventus for £ 89 million in 2016.
Very rarely in the five years since then has the midfielder looked world-class for United, a fact that makes him even more confusing than his feats won at the World Cup for France.
As Pogba prepares to leave United this summer, very few fans will shed tears and his re-skating is underscored by a lack of concrete interest in signing him, even for nothing.
Pogba is 29 and must be at his peak. United did not even enjoy the powerful Pogba, who dominated the matches for Juventus, let alone train him in an even better player, and he was booed on Saturday after closing his ears to the fans. His relationship with supporters seems to be low at all times, and that says something.
How about other purchases to rob banks? Angel Di Maria was European champions when he was bought for £ 67 million in 2014. He never settled in Manchester and United were forced to cut their losses just a year later.
Anthony Martial’s transfer fee has been growing gradually since 2015. The striker was 20 when he arrived with the potential to be one of the best in the world.
He is enjoying some good moments, especially in his first season, but the general trend is downward. Now 26, Martial is on loan at Sevilla because Solskjaer did not want to play with him.
Angel Di Maria (left) and Anthony Marcial (right) are among United’s most expensive failures
He was not selected by France when he won the World Cup in 2018 and it is unlikely that he will participate in Qatar later this year. Another expensive waste.
Harry Maguire, who cost £ 80 million in 2019, was very good last season and for England at Euro 2020 last summer. But the club’s captain has been a problem at times this season and it would be a boost to claim that he has improved while at United.
Fellow defenders Eric Bailey, Victor Lindelof and Aaron Van-Bisaka, who came with rather high transfer fees, are unlikely to have become world fighters during their stay at Old Trafford.
Harry Maguire was in good shape last season, but dropped out again this season
Alexis Sanchez (left) and Romelu Lukaku (right) also failed to reach their potential at United
Then there is the big list of scumbags who have been and gone, none of them have improved in any way, form or form with United: Memphis Depay, Morgan Schneiderlin, Mateo Darmian, Henrich Mkhitaryan, Alexis Sanchez, Romelu Lukaku and others.
Hundreds of millions of pounds in transfer costs wasted on players who have not improved on the United team or improved personally enough to be able to sell at a profit.
So Rio is right, and whoever comes in as United’s next manager has the unenviable task of building them from scratch.
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