Jamie Carragher names summer signing who ‘looks miles off being a Man Utd player’

Jamie Carragher has urged Manchester United to abandon their obsession with ‘stellar names’ if they are to give Erik ten Hag’s successor a chance of prospering where he failed.

The Dutchman’s chaotic reign officially came to an end on Monday, less than 24 hours after a controversial defeat at West Ham which the club’s owners deemed one setback too many.

Ruben Amorim appears to be the leading candidate to replace Ten Hag and United are already understood to have held promising talks with Sporting Lisbon.

Whoever takes over on a permanent basis – Ruud van Nistelrooy has been handed the role of interim boss – will take over a team who have made a hugely underwhelming start to the new season.

United are currently languishing in 14th place in the Premier League table and are without a win in Europe having drawn all three games against Twente, Porto and Fenerbahce so far.

Despite huge upheaval behind the scenes, the new transfer decision makers appear to have repeated the mistakes of the past with this summer’s signings already looking questionable at best with young striker Joshua Zirkzee already looking out of his depth, according to Carragher.

He told the Daily Telegraph: ‘As an outsider looking in, it feels like United are too obsessed with stellar names rather than paying enough attention to their underlying numbers. That is certainly the case with recent player deals.

‘Matthijs de Ligt struggled at Juventus and Bayern Munich, so why was there an assumption he would hit the ground running at Old Trafford?

‘Manuel Ugarte was a substitute at Paris St-Germain, and I am afraid Joshua Zirkzee looks miles off being a Manchester United player.

‘This is not a time for gloating or ‘I told you so’ but it was obvious after the first home game against Fulham this day would come.

‘United kicked the can down the road, and the echoes of when Liverpool delayed sacking Brendan Rodgers in October 2015 were obvious.

‘Liverpool waited because they knew Jurgen Klopp was available and he was in charge for the next game after Rodgers’s exit.

‘If United have almost agreed a deal with Ruben Amorim to be their next head coach, then the timing of Monday’s sacking makes more sense, even if it should have happened three months earlier.’