Paul Scholes remains unconvinced that former Manchester United teammate Ruud van Nistelrooy would have brought two current first-team players to Old Trafford.
Ruud van Nistelrooy made his sensational return to Old Trafford in the summer after he took up a key role in Erik ten Hag’s coaching staff.
A fan favourite during his time as a Manchester United player, Van Nistelrooy was appointed assistant manager alongside Rene Hake under Erik ten Hag.
The 48-year-old Dutch former striker has watched United endure a poor start to the 2024-25 Premier League season under Red Devils manager Ten Hag.
United have won only twice in the Premier League after their opening six league matches, with Ten Hag’s men sat in 13th place in the table.
Ten Hag suffered another major setback on Sunday after Tottenham inflicted a 3-0 Premier League defeat on 10-man United at Old Trafford.
Scholes on Van Nistelrooy and Man Utd
Manchester United were unable to fight back against a dominating Tottenham side and Erik ten Hag faced fierce criticism over the Red Devils’ poor performance.
Ten Hag started United summer signing Joshua Zirkzee in attack against Spurs, with Rasmus Hojlund forced to settle for a place on the bench.
Joshua Zirkzee, who was signed from Bologna in a deal worth £36.54m in the summer, made an instant impact on his United debut against Fulham in August.
But since his winner at Old Trafford against Fulham, the 23-year-old Netherlands striker has failed to score in his last five Premier League matches for United.
Rasmus Hojlund, on the other hand, missed the opening stages of season due to a pre-season injury before returning for United in September.
The 21-year-old Denmark striker came off the bench in the second half of the Spurs defeat, but Hojlund dropped a forgettable second-half cameo performance.
Speaking on SuperSport, Paul Scholes doesn’t believe that fellow United legend Ruud van Nistelrooy would have signed Hojlund or Zirkzee if he were asked.
“Coaches are control freaks, they want to do everything,” he said, as per the Metro.
“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.’
“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 go consult him, wouldn’t you?”
Ten Hag on Man Utd future
Ten Hag insisted that he is “not thinking” about his future ahead of United’s Europa League clash against Porto and Premier League match against Aston Villa.
“I’m not thinking about it, I’m not anxious. We are together,” he told Sky Sports.
“We created a togetherness in the summer with the ownership and the leadership.
“We made this agreement and we were all behind it. We also know the strategy [is to bring in] young players in a transition period.
“They also know in the end when we are May, in all my last six seasons, always there were trophies. That is what we are also now aiming for.”
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