Graeme Souness shoots himself in the foot with latest Man Utd rant after £59m coup

Graeme Souness has left himself red-faced following his latest rant about the state of affairs at Manchester United, on this occasion blasting the club’s recruitment. The former Sky Sports pundit has never pulled any punches when criticising United, their ownership, players or coaching staff.

And he has now spoken out about the uncertainty surrounding Erik ten Hag’s future, claiming the Dutchman’s poor recruitment hasn’t helped his cause.

Souness believes the United hierarchy has “already made up their mind” about Ten Hag following Tuesday’s showdown executive meeting in London.

The 71-year-old has pinpointed the players who arrived at Old Trafford this summer, describing them as underwhelming.

“I look at players they signed this summer, they brought in Manuel Ugarte, Joshua Zirkzee, and Noussair Mazraoui,” Souness explained on the Three Up Front podcast.

“But United aren’t a middle-of-the-road club. Would a team like Real Madrid be signing those players?

“I don’t think they’re ambitious enough because they’re not going out and signing the types of players that will make a difference.

“In the end, that’s what nails Ten Hag. He’s signing players that he’s worked with before, so they wouldn’t have been someone else’s suggestion.

“He’s signed players that he knows and would’ve wanted, but they’re still not performing. United pay through the nose for players, but they’ve been signing poorly for years.”

Souness questioned whether Real Madrid would even consider making a move for any of the players United recruited in the summer.

But the Liverpool icon appears to have forgotten Leny Yoro, who United beat the European champions to sign in a £59million deal in July.

Real weren’t willing to up their price for the 18-year-old centre-back, prompting Lille to sanction his switch to Manchester.

You could forgive Souness, considering Yoro hasn’t yet featured for his new club due to a foot injury he suffered during pre-season.

But the teenager, considered one of Europe’s most exciting defensive talents, is making strong progress on his road to recovery after undergoing surgery in August.

At the end of last month, Ten Hag confirmed that he hoped Yoro would return to contention in the near future.

“He is in the right spot, and he will return as soon as possible into the squad and then the team training,” the United boss explained.

The Red Devils’ first summer transfer window under the INEOS banner was praised ahead of the season. There will be optimism at the club that the youthful signings will prove to be successes in years to come.