‘Man Utd can’t pinch players like Rooney anymore’ – Red Devils warned by Neville ‘buy badly, buy twice’

Manchester United can no longer “pinch players off other clubs like they did with Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand”, says Gary Neville, with the Red Devils warned they must avoid buying badly.

The Red Devils were once the most appealing prospect in English football and boasted the financial muscle required to lure top talent away from domestic rivals.

Funds are still available at Old Trafford, but there is now greater competition in the transfer market and United no longer sit at the top of the food chain.

That is making it even more important that the right deals are done, with several big-money flops having failed to offer a return on the investment made in them over recent years.

Former United star Neville is hoping to see an end to those struggles, with the likes of Harry Maguire considered to be a step in the right direction, with the Red Devils having little margin for error.

“If Crystal Palace can turn down £80m for [Wilfried] Zaha, United can't just go in like they did 10 years ago and bully teams,” Neville told Sky Sports.

“They can't just pinch players off other clubs like they did with Wayne Rooney at Everton, Rio Ferdinand and Leeds and Michael Carrick off Tottenham. These teams won't sell anymore unless the number is astronomical.

“If the right player comes up, they are just going to have to go and get them because it's been proven: buy badly, buy twice.

“Maguire is a 'buy once' sort of signing - I think he's the type of player who will be at Man Utd for five or six years. You can build around him. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer mentioned before the game [against West Ham] about him potentially being captain.

“But they have to find players who want to come to the club and are hungry, but who can raise the quality and experience and know-how, to support the young players but also the management team.”

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It is not just on the field that Neville wants to see signs of progress from United, with it vital that stability is also found off it.

Questions are being asked of Solskjaer amid a testing start to the 2019-20 campaign, but it is widely acknowledged that the Norwegian has taken on a tough job and will require patience in order to restore the club to former glories.

Neville added: “Your job as an owner or board is to supply the manager with players who can win and Manchester United have not done that for eight years now.

“They've put the money in but they've not put the strategy around it. If they'd have had the methodology eight years ago of stick to young, emerging English players, they'd probably be in a good place now, but they jumped off the David Moyes, Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho tracks.

“They can't jump off the Solskjaer track. They have to support the manager and find a way of signing players.

“They had the best manager in the world in Jose Mourinho and he couldn't get where he wanted to be. Louis van Gaal, an experienced manager at Barcelona and Ajax, couldn't.

“They must stick with the plan. There will be frustrations along the way. Take a deep breath, take the criticism, but it will take time and it's not a quick fix.”