Former Liverpool star Graeme Souness has spoken about a number of major issues at Manchester United as they prepare to take on the Reds at Old Trafford today.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side go into this big match in dire form at the start of this season, while Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool are flying high at the top of the Premier League table after eight wins out of eight so far.
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Souness thinks Liverpool are nailed-on to win this one, and rubbed salt into the wounds by slamming Man Utd in a number of areas in his column in the Times.
The Scot perhaps most notably laid into the Red Devils over their famed approach when it comes to promoting players from their academy.
Although this has brought United great success in recent times, most notably with the Class of ’92 in the Sir Alex Ferguson area, Souness does not think MUFC are currently a good club for young players to be making the step up.
By comparison, Chelsea have only recently embraced this model after for so long neglecting their academy and focusing on big-name and big-money signings.
Souness, though, now feels Chelsea look set up better than United to get the best out of their young talent – words that will no doubt be painful to hear for anyone associated with the Old Trafford club.
He said: “With the exception of Ryan Giggs, who even at the age of 17 looked like a ready-made star, the class of 92 were slowly woven into the United fabric — the odd League Cup appearance to start with, 30 minutes off the bench in the Premier League, 15 minutes at the end of a Champions League tie that had already been put to bed.
“Solskjaer has no such luxury. Nor do the current crop of youngsters have the benefit of being surrounded by real leaders such as David Beckham, Paul Scholes and the Neville brothers while in their professional infancy.”
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He added: “It must be galling for United fans because in the past two seasons at Anfield Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joe Gomez have blossomed into something close to the finished article with a minimum of fuss.
“Even Chelsea, under Frank Lampard and their enforced transfer ban, now looks to be a better environment for young talent to mature than Old Trafford.”