GARY NEVILLE reckons Manchester United’s squad is WORSE than Tottenham’s… despite spending nearly half a billion MORE over the last decade.
And he claims just ONE Red Devils player would get into the Spurs XI.
Ruben Amorim’s struggling side were beaten 1-0 away in North London on Sunday.
James Maddison grabbed the only goal of the game with a rebound.
The playmaker then seemingly responded to criticism from Roy Keane with his modified darts celebration.
United were forced to name eight teenagers on the bench alongside Victor Lindelof as injuries ravaged the team.
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But regardless of the current injury woes, Neville reckons the Red Devils’ squad is inferior to that of Spurs – despite the massive gulf in spending.
Speaking during the debrief on Sky Sports Super Sunday, the former right-back said: “If you take Tottenham’s best players – Porro, Udogie, Van de Ven, Romero, Bissouma, Sarr, Maddison, Kulusevski, Solanke, Son, Johnson, Tel – how many Manchester United players would get into that Tottenham team if everyone was fit?
“I think Bruno Fernandes you would want to have in there.
“Maybe Amad Diallo but if you’ve got Kulusevski or Amad, to be honest, I’ll probably go Kulusevski.
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“My point is, every single Tottenham player bar one if they were all available is better than every single Manchester United player.
“That’s not being emotional, it’s not ranting, we’ve gone past that now.
“It’s just really sad that that’s where Manchester United are currently at.”
Since 2016, Manchester United’s net spend on transfers is a whopping £1billion.
That includes the £89m club-record purchase of Paul Pogba in 2016 plus Antony (£85.5m), Harry Maguire (£85m), Romelu Lukaku (£75m), Jadon Sancho (£73m) and Rasmus Hojlund (£72m) all arrived in massive deals.
Their biggest signing this season was Leny Yoro for up to £52m.
United’s record sale remains Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid for £80m in 2009 so the highest fee received in the period since 2016 is the £73m they got from Inter Milan for Romelu Lukaku in 2019.
Ironically, the money banked for Mason Greenwood (£26.6m) and Scott McTominay (£25m) in the summer are among the biggest United sales of all time.
United have sold £371m worth of players since 2016 – the lowest in the ‘Big Six’ – to take their overall net spend to just about exactly £1bn.
In comparison, Tottenham’s net spend is £580m over the same period.
That takes into consideration £995m spent on new signings and £415m in sales.
Their outlays this season total £145m on record arrival Dominic Solanke (£65m), £40m on Archie Gray, £25m on Wilson Odobert and £12.5m on goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky who came in during January.
Other significant signings include Richarlison (£50m), Dejan Kulusevski (£25m), Maddison (£40m), Pedro Porro (£37.3m), Micky van de Ven (£35m) and Brennan Johnson (£47.5m).
Harry Kane left for Bayern Munich at the beginning of last season for an initial £86m.
Kyle Walker’s move to Manchester City in 2017 was worth around £50m but the biggest sales this season were Oliver Skipp to Leicester (£20m), Emerson Royal to Milan (£12.8m) and Joe Rodon to Leeds (£10m).
Add in the 2015-16 figures to take it all the way back a decade and the numbers are even more stark as Tottenham made a small £13m profit in that season while United were down around £45m.
And that means the overall difference in spending is a total of approximately £478m in the last ten years.
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United have won five trophies – two FA Cups, two League Cups and a Europa League – compared to zero for Spurs in that time.
But now according to Neville, Tottenham seemingly have a better team and are in a stronger position on the field than his old side.
Man Utd ratings v Spurs
MANCHESTER UNITED slipped to a 12th defeat in the Premier League with Rasmus Hojlund coming under fire again.
Here’s how SunSport’s Katherine Walsh rated the Manchester United players against an underachieving Spurs side – who are now three places above them in 12th – in North London.
Andre Onana – 3
United can’t do anything with him between the sticks. Can’t be trusted to collect anything.
His opposite number Vicario showed him a thing or two after returning for the first time since Spurs thrashed Man City in November.
At fault for the first goal when he palmed out a relatively weak bouncing shot into Maddison’s path in the 13th minute.
Noussair Mazraoui – 5
An OK performance. Clever link-up play with Zirkzee but couldn’t get hold of Spence down the left-hand side.
Pulled out an excellent cross for the Dutchman’s headed chance late-on.
Matthijs de Ligt – 6
His clearance stopped an obvious 2-0 before the half-an-hour mark.
Harry Maguire – 5
A mixed bag. Long ball over the top for Hojlund’s chance in opening 10 minutes and went on a few attacking runs himself in the first half.
Did well to stop Dejan Kulusevski from having a go at the edge of the box. But bizarrely stopped in his tracks when a cross came flying into Son later on.
Diogo Dalot – 6
A difficult afternoon for the Portugal international as Son and Djed Spence left him for dead a few times.
Hesitated when asked to shoot from five yards to make it 1-0 but helped Onana out with some clearances too.
Patrick Dorgu – 4
A Prem debut to forget. He was almost invisible from the left-hand side. And lacked quality when asked to get involved more in the second half.
Was stupidly caught offside with Bruno Fernandes offloading a stunning cross pitch pass and booked late-on.
Casemiro – 5
Looked every bit a player that hasn’t played Premier League football for two months. Unsurprisingly booked for a late one on Son.
Bizarrely dropped to the turf asking for a free-kick when nobody touched him. Was forced to play 89 minutes with eight teenagers on the bench. A difficult afternoon, indeed.
Bruno Fernandes – 5
Interceptions and breaking up play is not a part of the captain’s game. An uncharacteristically poor cross left United open on the counter.
Did get back to stop Son from having a shot at Onana on the hour mark and started ticking in attack in the final 20 minutes.
Alejandro Garnacho – 4
Looked shaky and cut a frustrated figure after blazing over an absolute SITTER from 10 yards to level the scores.
A bit of a shocker and looked a completely different player to the one who got United into the fifth-round of the FA Cup last week.
Woke up a bit in the second half as Vicario kept him at bay with several superb stops. But the 20-year-old is clearly better off the bench.
Joshua Zirkzee – 6
The best of a desperately poor front three. There’s a street player in there and he’s great with his touches at times.
But curled wide from 23 yards, stuck a header wide in the 70th minute and kicked an air shot in the final five minutes.
Rasmus Hojlund – 3
Is Hojlund the worst No 9 in United’s recent history?
The young Dane, who was unlucky to have a chance saved by Vicario, was second best in every loose ball and kept losing possession.
He was even caught offside after a pass from an Onana goal-kick in the first half – how often do you see that happen?
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
