Graeme Souness: 'Hojlund and Onana are Man Utd's problem'

Former midfielder Graeme Souness lists six players who are holding back Man Utd's development, including two expensive new recruits Rasmus Hojlund and Andre Onana.

Man Utd started the new season unconvincingly, winning 1-0 against Wolves, 3-2 against Nottingham Forest at home and losing to Arsenal and Tottenham in the opening four rounds of the Premier League. The "Red Devils" are now down to 11th place with six points.

Souness believes that the unreasonable transfer process is the reason why Man Utd is not playing well. This summer, the Old Trafford team said goodbye to David de Gea - the most senior player in the team, to recruit Onana for 62 million USD. Onana is a modern goalkeeper, outstanding in the ability to pass the ball with his feet, expected to help Man Utd improve the ability to deploy the ball from home.

Man Utd then bought Hojlund for $83 million upfront plus $11 million in add-ons. This was a controversial deal, as the Danish striker did not have an impressive scoring record, with nine goals in 32 Serie A games last season. Hojlund also suffered a back injury, missing the first three games and only coming on late in the fourth-round defeat to Arsenal.

Onana (middle) and Hojlund (right) and Mason Mount are the three most expected new signings of Man Utd in the summer of 2023. Photo:

"I don't think United are any stronger than they were last season," Souness told Sunsport this week. "They spent a lot of money on Hojlund, who doesn't have a great goalscoring record. Now he's coming to a league where it's really hard to score goals. I could be wrong, but an unproven striker like that is a big gamble. I think Onana will help United build up the ball from the back, but I'm not sure he'll do the most important thing, which is keep the ball out of the net."

In addition to the technical issues, Man Utd also has many problems behind the scenes. After sending Mason Greenwood, the striker who was accused of assaulting his girlfriend, to Getafe on loan, Man Utd has similar problems with Antony. On September 10, Man Utd announced that Antony will stay in Brazil and not return to England, following accusations that he attacked his ex-girlfriend.

The Man Utd dressing room was in chaos when Jadon Sancho publicly responded and implied that coach Erik ten Hag was lying. On X - the social network formerly known as Twitter, the English midfielder refuted Ten Hag's statement that he had not trained well, had become a "scapegoat" for a long time and this was unfair.

According to Souness, Antony or Sancho are not long-term solutions if Man Utd want to compete for the Premier League and Champions League titles, and criticized the duo Anthony Martial and Casemiro. Martial has not met expectations since joining Man Utd in the summer of 2015, and has not even reached the ten-goal mark since the 2019-2020 season. Meanwhile, Casemiro has somewhat declined and shown signs of age since the beginning of the season.

Souness during a live commentary programme on Sky Sports' Premier League pitch. Photo: Sky Sports — Souness during a live commentary programme on Sky Sports' Premier League pitch. Photo: *Sky Sports*

Souness played as a player from 1970 to 1991, winning the European Cup three times with Liverpool. He began his career as a player-manager at Rangers in 1986, until retiring in 2006 at Newcastle. At the age of 70, he became a commentator for Sky .

Hong Duy

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