On summer transfer deadline day, Scott McTominay left Manchester United and completed a permanent move to Napoli.
The Red Devils collected €30m for McTominay and invested €50m to buy Manuel Ugarte from Paris Saint-Germain the same day.
Former West Ham United star Paolo Di Canio has questioned Manchester United’s decision to sell McTominay and sign the 23-year-old.
He made these remarks to Sky Italia, after the Premier League side suffered a 3-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday. Il Napolista have relayed his comments.
“How can you sell McTominay for €30m to get Ugarte for €50m? Ugarte is used to Lisbon, he played two excellent years at Sporting, but the Premier League is another thing. Today in Manchester it was 10c, it’s been raining for 10 days, in Lisbon it’s 25c. Last year he was in Paris, he’s a composed player, who plays a lot of positional football,” he said.
It’s worth noting McTominay prefers to operate mainly in the middle of the pitch and likes to move forward into attacking positions. The Uruguay international, on the other hand, mainly operates as a defensive midfielder. Di Canio hasn’t taken this into account.
Di Canio, who played for Celtic, Sheffield Wednesday, West Ham and Charlton Athletic, has criticised Erik ten Hag for not focusing on buying British players.
Since the Dutchman took charge at Old Trafford in 2022, Mason Mount, Jonny Evans and Jack Butland were the British players to join Manchester United.
“The truth is that Ten Hag doesn’t like British players, he doesn’t buy any British players,” Di Canio explained.
“Last year he bought Hojlund, this year Zirkzee who has a physicality that goes well in Italy. Tottenham instead bought Solanke who is a good player, nothing transcendental but he’s a good player.”
“I’m sorry to see Ten Hag in great difficulty, but he hasn’t learned anything from these two years. When they concede a goal, they don’t react, no one raises their head, no one talks to each other.”
