Peter Schmeichel agrees with Paul Scholes over ‘weird’ Man Utd signing

Peter Schmeichel has questioned Manchester United’s ‘weird’ decision to replace Rasmus Hojlund with Benjamin Sesko in the summer.

United turned to the transfer market to strengthen Ruben Amorim’s squad on the back of a historically poor season, in which the club finished with their worst-ever points tally in the Premier League.

Matheus Cunha was the first through the doors at the Theatre of Dreams, joining from in a deal worth £62.5million after an outstanding campaign with Wolves.

The Red Devils followed this up by wrapping up a £71m agreement with Brentford for Bryan Mbeumo to further strengthen Amorim’s misfiring attack for the new season.

United’s long-suffering fanbase were still demanding upgrades at either end of the pitch, though, with both Hojlund and Andre Onana falling some way short of expectations last term.

A host of high-profile centre-forwards were linked before United honed in on the signing of RB Leipzig’s Sesko, who scored 21 goals in 45 appearances in his second season in German football.

Old Trafford bosses then turned their attentions to finding a replacement for the error-prone Onana – and a £18.1m deal was struck with Royal Antwerp’s Senne Lammes with just hours remaining of the window.

This allowed Onana and Hojlund to leave on loan for Trabzonspor and Napoli respectively and the latter, in particular, has found a new lease of life in Italy, scoring four goals in his opening six games.

While Sesko has struggled to have the same sort of impact since replacing Hojlund, the Slovenian has given United supporters a glimpse of what he could bring with two goals in his last two appearances for the club.

However, legendary ex-United goalkeeper Schmeichel – echoing what Paul Scholes said earlier this week – told the BBC’s Sacked In The Morning podcast: ‘The signing of Sesko was a bit weird to me.

‘We had Hojlund, starved of service for two years. You only need to see what he is doing now at Napoli with Kevin De Bruyne and Scott McTominay to play with.’

According to Schmeichel, Hojlund could still be a lethal goalscorer for United if he is given the ‘first-class service’ he requires when he returns from Napoli.

‘I have consistently said Hojlund will be a 25-goal-a-season striker, but he needs service,’ the Dane said of his fellow countryman.

‘At the time, we brought Cunha and Mbeumo in – players who would give Hojlund first-class service.

‘We spent £70m or so on Sesko [but] we don’t have that number six we should have.’

Schmeichel still has some concerns surrounding United’s goalkeeping situation, despite an encouraging debut performance from Lammens in the side’s 2-0 victory over Sunderland.

‘This season alone, we have conceded nine goals from goalkeeping errors. That is too much,’ he continued.

‘When I played, or Edwin van der Sar, or David de Gea, the brief was to win ten points a season.

‘When I played, the manager was in charge. He said: “Him in, him out.” Now it is different people with different agendas.

‘How can you create an environment stable enough to have a team that can go on the pitch and win every year?’

Asked if he would be interested in a behind-the-scenes role at United, Schmeichel replied: ‘I would love that. I would absolutely love that.’

United’s squad will have taken encouragement from their win over Sunderland before the international break, but a daunting task awaits Amorim’s men away tobitter rivals Liverpool this weekend.

The Premier League champions have hit their first major blip since Arne Slot over the reins from Jurgen Klopp charge and surrendered top spot with defeat at Chelsea last time out.

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