Paul Scholes has questioned Manchester United’s recruitment strategy and accused the club of settling for players rather than building a squad capable of winning the Premier League.
Speaking on The Good, The Bad & The Football, Scholes argued that United’s recent transfer business does not resemble that of a club seriously attempting to challenge for the title.
His criticism focused on the players United have targeted and the apparent progression from preferred options to alternatives.
Scholes discussed the recruitment of Carlos Baleba, Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans and contrasted those deals with players United had previously pursued, including Elliot Anderson.
He believes that pattern suggests United are increasingly accepting alternatives rather than securing the players they originally wanted.
“It just looks like we’re buying players for the sake of it now,” Scholes said.
The former United midfielder questioned whether that approach was consistent with the club’s stated ambition to return to the top of English football.
“We’re not trying to win the league,” he said.
Scholes believes United remain “a million miles away” from mounting a serious Premier League title challenge.
Nicky Butt also criticised the club’s squad building and questioned decisions made above Michael Carrick.
Butt highlighted United’s failure to strengthen at left-back and questioned the use of Matheus Cunha as a centre-forward.
He also challenged chief executive Omar Berrada’s previously stated ambition for United to win the Premier League by 2028.
Butt does not believe that target will be achieved if the club continues on its current trajectory.
The comments add another dimension to the debate surrounding United’s difficult start to the season.
Carrick’s selections and tactics have come under increasing scrutiny, while the performances of individual players have also been questioned.
Scholes and Butt are directing attention further up the club.
Their argument is that United’s problems cannot be separated from the recruitment decisions that have shaped Carrick’s squad.
United have invested heavily in rebuilding the team, but Scholes believes spending money is not enough if the players being recruited are not capable of moving the club towards a title challenge.
His assessment of United’s recruitment remains an opinion, as does Butt’s judgement of the club’s chances of meeting its 2028 target.
But their criticism raises a wider question about the standards against which United’s rebuild should be judged.
If winning the Premier League by 2028 remains the objective, Scholes and Butt believe the current approach is falling short.
