Paul Scholes has suggested Ruud van Nistelrooy would not have signed one of Manchester United’s major summer arrivals.
The Man United legend has continued to question the club’s summer transfer business in the wake of their 3-0 home defeat to Tottenham on Sunday.
The result has raised the pressure on under-fire boss Erik ten Hag, with the Dutchman having also presided over another 3-0 loss to Liverpool at Old Trafford last month.
Scholes has questioned whether £38.5m summer signing Matthijs de Ligt represents an upgrade on Harry Maguire.
The former midfielder has now raised doubts over Joshua Zirkzee, who has scored once in eight matches since his £36.5m move from Bologna.
Paul Scholes has questioned another of Manchester United’s signings in the transfer window
Scholes has expressed doubts over Joshua Zirkzee, who has scored one goal in eight matches
Scholes has suggested coach Ruud van Nistelrooy would not have signed the forward
Scholes has suggested Van Nistelrooy, who joined Man United’s coaching staff in the summer, would be unlikely to have backed the addition of the Dutch international.
He questioned whether Van Nistelrooy, who scored 150 goals in 219 games for the Red Devils, had been consulted over the signing.
‘Coaches are control freaks, they want to do everything. If you were Ruud watching that, he is maybe thinking, “I will take a back seat, I don’t want to get involved in that”,’ Scholes said on SuperSport.
‘He also has to be involved in the recruitment side of it, signing a centre forward or two centre forwards. “Ruud, who do you think?”
‘I am not sure he would have picked Zirkzee. I am not sure he would have picked Hojlund.
‘Look, there is probably not a plethora of centre forwards out there but you would go consult him, wouldn’t you?’
Zirkzee had scored 12 goals in 34 matches for Bologna last season, helping the club qualify for the Champions League and earning a move to Man United.
The forward netted on his Man United debut but has yet to add to his tally, with the Red Devils coming under fire for their lack of goals so far this season.
Zirkzee had scored on his debut for Man United against Fulham but has not scored since
Erik ten Hag has expressed his belief that Zirkzee can become a prolific scorer at Man United
Ten Hag, speaking last week, has insisted the forward can become a prolific goalscorer for the club.
‘He is young and you see his capabilities,’ Ten Hag said. ‘He is a very good link-up player, he is creative, he is creating chances, but to be fair he has his moments towards the goal.
‘In that area he can definitely improve, but we knew that beforehand. He has some very good attributes and some attributes he has to improve. He needs our support how to improve.
‘We are not scoring enough goals enough, that is the problem. It’s the key area and we have to score more goals as a team. We have players who have the ability to score, that is clear. You see all the opportunities we are creating, but we are not scoring enough.’