With three top players having come through the Man United door this summer Sir Alex Ferguson insists that playing for such a huge club is never easy and has issued a forthright warning to the new arrivals that “there’s no point them coming here if they don’t understand what ‘expectation’ means”.
Having dug deep into the till this summer and landing the likes of Mason Mount, Andre Onana and Rasmus Hojlund, United boss Erik ten Hag finally managed to fill the three major gaps in his squad efficiently. The general consensus around the club is that good business has been conducted so far as all three players did considerably well at their previous clubs but made the decision to join United.
However, countless players have in like manner in the past pursued the same path and lived to regret the decisions made and crumbled under the pressure of playing for a club with the size and prestigious history that United clearly possess, and legendary doyen Ferguson insists all new signings must be able cope with that expectation, none excepted.
“Well, there’s no point them coming here if they don’t understand what expectation means,” Ferguson told CBS Sports. “The expectation of this club is huge. Every player we brought in in my time, most of them did that, accepted that.
“There’s no point coming to the club if you don’t have your own expectation and your own responsibility for performance. I think that’s a really important part.
“When you’re recruiting someone you should really identify who you’re buying. That is important. When we looked at who we were gonna buy we watched them for a long time.
“It wasn’t an overnight thing. We did the right search and we were sure they were the right type for the club.”