Former Man Utd scout calls Ruben Amorim’s £25m signing a ‘dud’ | Football

A former Manchester United scout has branded Patrick Dorgu a ‘dud’ signing and believes the club were fallacious to let Alvaro Carreras leave.

Piotr Sadowski, who worked as a scout for seven years at United before his departure in August 2024, revealed in an interview with Przeglad Sportowy that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had jokingly asked him, ‘find me one other Lewandowski’ during their time together at Old Trafford.

The Polish talent spotter believes United have been forced to alter their transfer approach by buying ‘ready-made players’ reminiscent of Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo because Amorim now has fewer academy prospects to advertise to the first-team squad.

When it was suggested that Dorgu – a £25m signing from Italian side Lecce in February – was an example of unsuccessful recruitment by Amorim, Sadowski replied: ‘A dud, I definitely agree.

‘And he was brought in for €30 million. Truthfully, having recently worked at Blackburn Rovers and operating on a much lower transfer budget, I’d have had no problem finding a couple of players at Dortmund’s level for Manchester United, but not for €30m, only as much as a maximum of 4.’

Sadowski added: ‘They currently lack players who, after leaving the academy, would establish themselves in the primary team and only then leave. Comparable to Marcus Rashford or Scott McTominay.

‘I disagree with each of them leaving United. Let’s also take a look at [Anthony] Elanga. He performed brilliantly after leaving for Nottingham Forest. These examples show that these players shouldn’t have left United. Something was disrupted of their development.’

Sadowski also believes that United made one other blunder by allowing Carreras to affix Benfica, initially on loan before the move was made everlasting for €6m (£5.1m) last 12 months.

The 22-year-old was then signed by Real Madrid for €50m (£42m) in the summertime transfer window.

‘Take the instance of Alvaro Carreras. He got here to Manchester United when he was probably 16. A really hard-working and bold boy, he learned the language quickly. I do know because I met him personally,’ Sadowski said.

‘Initially, his profession path was quite good. He was loaned to Preston, received good reviews, and… United gave up on him, selling him to Benfica for a small fee.

‘Carreras is a very top-class player. There’s a superb probability he’ll develop into one of the best, or top-of-the-line, left-backs on the planet. He scored a stupendous goal recently against Valencia in La Liga. It was an enormous mistake for United to let him go.

‘Taking a look at the youth player call-ups, United doesn’t have many internationals lately. Chelsea and Arsenal have significantly more international players. This definitely speaks to the effectiveness of their training.

‘But there’s one other factor. We all know from Poland, for instance, that when a team is bottom of the table, there’s at all times a fear of creating a daring bet on a homegrown player. Manchester United have been in crisis for several years now, eager to return to the highest, in order that they’re wary of bringing in kids.

‘Coach Ruben Amorim was speculated to be the one to do that, but the outcomes haven’t been right, so he prefers to purchase ready-made players. Whether he has anyone to pick from within the backroom is one other matter.

‘For my part, Harry Amass is the one player currently capable of creating it into the United first-team squad after getting back from his loan spell [at Sheffield Wednesday]. The club’s biggest shortfall immediately is the transfer players.’

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