Alan Shearer has claimed that someone on… Manchester United leaked the club’s interest in unpopular striker Marko Arnautovic.
Shortly after United lost their opening game of the season to Brighton last Sunday, there were reports that the Red Devils were trying to sign Arnautovic from Bologna.
The 33-year-old is known in England for his stints at Stoke and West Hamand while he was a decent player in his day, he was a controversial figure throughout his career and that combined with his age meant that when the news got out there was a significant reaction from fans and pundits.
Just a few days later it was confirmed that United would be dropping their interest in the Austrian international, but the damage was already done.
Premier League legend Shearer sees the whole debacle as further proof that United are a terribly run club, going so far as to suggest that someone at Old Trafford orchestrated the whole thing.
“I am convinced that someone from Man United leaked the story linking them to Arnautovic, just to see what the reaction was,” he said on Match of the Day.
“The reaction was so bad they had to pull out, I’m pretty sure that was the case.
“But I think that sums up where Manchester United are: they are a mess.
“It will take time and an incredible amount of money to get things right inside and outside the football club and in terms of the right recruitment and it will take a lot of patience from the Manchester United fans because where they are now where they want to be, miles away.’
Shearer spoke out on Saturday night after United’s 4-0 defeat to Brentford, when goals from Josh Dasilva, Mathias Jensen, Ben Mee and Bryan Mbeumo, all within a 25-minute period of the first half, utterly humiliated Erik ten Hag’s side.
As a result, United are now bottom of the Premier League table for the first time since 1992, with Ten Hag becoming the first Red Devils manager to lose his first two games in charge since 1921.
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