Wayne Rooney says Manchester United are benefitting from a smarter strategy in the transfer market after making a number of ‘horrendous mistakes’ over the past decade.
United have spent close to £2bn on signings since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013 but have not come close to winning the Premier League in that time.
The Red Devils in fact finished just 15th in the Premier League last season – closer to the relegation zone than the Champions League places.
Manchester United look vastly improved this term, going five games unbeaten since the last international break to climb to seventh in the table, just one point outside the top-four.
Rooney has seen ‘promising signs’ from his former club and believes Amorim could now take United back into the Champions League.
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While the former Old Trafford captain is optimistic, he says it will still ‘take a bit of time’ for the club to recover from a decade of ‘horrendous’ transfer mistakes.
Rooney picked out Romelu Lukaku, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba as three high-profile transfers that set Manchester United back.
‘The recruitment at Manchester United before last summer was horrendous,’ Rooney said on The Overlap.
‘They were just bringing big names in – you look at Lukaku, Zlatan, Pogba – they’re good players but they were just bringing names in and spending enormous amounts of money.
‘It’s going to take a bit of time to get over those mistakes.’
Manchester United ignored superstar talent last summer and focused on bolstering Amorim’s squad with proven Premier League players.
Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha, signed from Brentford and Wolves respectively, have enjoyed bright starts to their Old Trafford careers.
Young Belgian star Senne Lammens, meanwhile, has already established himself as United’s No. 1 following his £18m move from Royal Antwerp.
‘If you look at Manchester United over the last ten years, the players have been absolutely battered,’ Rooney added. ‘Now they’ve got a couple of results and you can see a bit of confidence coming back.
‘You can even say that in the manager. They’re gradually getting better, there’s definitely been some improvement.
‘It’s been really tough for Ruben Amorim and I’ve been critical of him. We are seeing them improve though and players are getting to know each other a bit better.
‘There’s some promising signs and although they’re not going to win the league they could possibly sneak into the top-four.’
Manchester United won three games in a row for the first time since February 2024 before drawing their last two games 2-2.
Amorim’s side return to Premier League action after the international break against former United manager David Moyes’ Everton.
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