‘Not at The Level’ – Scholes Names Two Players Man Utd Should’ve Sold This Summer

‘Not at The Level’ – Scholes Names Two Players Man Utd Should’ve Sold This Summer

Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United – despite a rather fruitful summer of spending – have endured a tricky start to the 2025/26 campaign, by virtue of the fact that they’ve won just one of their first four Premier League matches and were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by fourth-tier opposition Grimsby Town in the first round of the competition. It’s been bleak to say the least.

Patience among the Old Trafford supporters is beginning to bear thin with Amorim, whose win percentage is the worst of any permanent United manager since World War 2, and that’s despite welcoming the likes of Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo, Benjamin Sesko and Senne Lammens over the summer months.

The aforementioned quartet are still, as expected, in the bedding-in period of their (potentially lengthy!) careers with the 20-time champions of England – but Paul Scholes, who played 716 times for the club between 1992 and 2013 when he retired for a second time, believes that two of Amorim’s squad should be deemed surplus to requirements as they are no longer at the required level.

Scholes Singles Out Two Man Utd Players Amorim Should Have Sold in the Summer

After Amorim’s men lost the all-Manchester derby 3-0, Scholes didn’t hold back in his assessment of two players in particular. In an exclusive interview with SPORTbible, he believes that Amorim’s much-maligned system was not to blame for their embarrassment at the hands of Pep Guardiola and Co.

“I don’t think the system was the problem against Manchester City. It’s more the personnel. United lack real athletes,” he said before singling out Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw. “In the Premier League, you almost have to be like a machine to survive, and we’ve got people like Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw.”

The English duo will be able to compete in a large chunk of games – but not in the ones that matter the most. “They are not at the level. In 85 to 90 percent of games, they will probably cope with people, but when you come to the bigger games, against City, Liverpool and Arsenal, they are going to fall short.”

London-born Shaw, who remains United’s longest-serving active player after joining from Southampton in 2014, was one of England’s brightest prospects before suffering a double leg fracture against PSV Eindhoven in 2015. From that point onward, his career has been on the decline.

According to Transfermarkt, Shaw has suffered a total of 29 injuries – resulting in north of 1,600 days being sidelined, during his decade-long spell at the club. Scholes touched on his long list of ongoing injury woes since joining the Red Devils.

“You think of the injuries Shaw has had. He must have the body of a 40-year-old man because he’s had that many injuries and missed that much football,” the affectionately nicknamed Ginger Prince said before adding: “If he’d stayed fit, he could’ve been the best left-back in the world.

“Now, he’s playing left-sided centre-half. He really shouldn’t be at the club anymore. He should have left along with Harry Maguire in the summer. United should have brought in one or two new centre-halves. They can’t cope physically in these bigger games. As soon as they brought Maguire on, I thought ‘Haaland must be rubbing his hands here’.”

In the concluding stages of Amorim’s maiden campaign in the Old Trafford dugout, Maguire – who has received a relentless amount of stick over the years – was one of the few United players that stood up to be counted alongside the likes of skipper Bruno Fernandes. The below, that goal against Olympique Lyonnais in the Europa League, is the perfect example of Maguire showing what he’s capable of:

That said, despite his 250 games of service, Scholes believes United should’ve cashed in on the Sheffield-born defender when they had the chance. “Maguire has had so much stick, it’s hard to be tough on him because he came back from it. But I think they had a chance this summer to sell.

“They renewed his one-year option, I just didn’t understand that. It was a great chance for him to leave,” Scholes continued. “They might have got £20 to £30 million for him. It was the ideal time. Maybe because he’s good in the dressing room, or good around the place, but football-wise, it’s just not right.”