'Old stuff with dust on it' - Man Utd urged to avoid signing 'tarnished' Paul Pogba for third time as Ruben Amorim is told to bring in players with 'big balls'

Success in the transfer market has proved hard to come by at Old Trafford across recent windows, with little return being seen on big investment. Ruben Amorim is now being charged with the task of reshaping the squad at his disposal and making it competitive once more.

Pogba is a player that United know all about, with the Frenchman having previously taken in two spells with the Premier League giants, and the World Cup winner is currently available as a free agent after seeing Juventus terminate his contract while serving a doping ban.

Pogba will be cleared to resume his career in March and has been linked with teams around the world, from Inter Miami alongside Lionel Messi in MLS to joining former United team-mate Mason Greenwood at Ligue 1 outfit Marseille.

United have been warned against joining the scramble for Pogba’s signature, with ex-Red Devils defender Paul Parker – speaking in association with Instant Casino – telling GOAL: “You have got to look at how long he has been out. You have got to look at what he is already doing publicity-wise and putting himself out there. It’s going backwards again. They went backwards getting him before. There was a reason why Sir Alex let him go. They respected that there was something that wasn’t right. They tried it again and it didn’t work. To go back now, for me, it wouldn’t be the manager’s decision. That would be undermining the manager. It’s not a step forward.

“When you look at him as a player, the imagination in that midfield – given where United are at the moment with imagination – he could explode and be incredible, what he can do. But it would be a step backwards as a club. Sometimes it is better to go backwards to go forwards again, but you are not coming forwards with anything but old stuff with dust on it, something that has been good and you’re trying to do it again, something that has been tarnished and now you’re hoping it has been polished up nice. I don’t think you can do that.

"Now they have to look for different, they have to go and find great players who can play in front of 70,000 people and not be intimidated. Maybe you’re not what everyone wants to see, but know you can win them over if you play with your heart and give everything. Any football fan at any club, any player that goes out there and gives everything, fans will go ‘we know he can’t do that, but we can trust him to get us towards having a bit of success’. That is the way they have to go.”

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Parker added on what United need to do, with the club no longer of obvious appeal to the best players on the planet: “Realistically, football today to what it was 20, 30, 40 years ago, where Manchester United were so strong – everything about what they were and how football was then – there were always players that would still come and believe that they go there and become a success. That would straight away give them everything, being there and get the adulation at the biggest club in the world. Now, football has changed and I don’t think that is there any more. Nowhere near what it was before – going to a big club and testing yourself. It’s a big club in a bit of trouble. You have got agents now saying ‘don’t go there, they have got problems’. The problem now is there is a big, long trail of misery at Manchester United.

“You are going to have to work hard to find those gems out there – the ones who have got the big balls, got the charisma, the attitude to play for Manchester United. They are not going to be outstanding, but they will take pride in what is expected of them playing for that club. They can carry it, lift it a little bit and then go and add the cherries needed to actually take them back, or closer to where they should be. But to go and get a superstar… If you are deemed a superstar, and I don’t think there are many of those left in football at the moment because they are not being created – they are not being created in our league, English and British ones because of the way that everyone plays the same. That is the problem for United fans.”

United were able to bring in promising Danish star Patrick Dorgu during the winter window, with the 20-year-old left-sided operator being likened to Gareth Bale, but they missed out on a number of other players as Sir Ratcliffe and the INEOS co-ownership group continue to attract criticism for cost-cutting measures.