Signing of Casemiro screams desperation... United are in a mess & need a long-term plan

I DON’T care how much money Manchester United spend in this transfer window – you are looking at five, six, seven years before that club is turned around.

Why? Because there are no foundations. None. And you can’t start building fancy roof turrets before you’ve put the concrete in for the ground floor.

Panicking and looking to spend £150million or so on a 30-year-old midfielder and a kid with a season and a half in the Dutch league under his belt, is trying to put the attic in before any bricks have gone up.

I don’t doubt the signings of Casemiro and Antony suddenly dominating the news is a reaction to the planned protests at Old Trafford.

But a knee-jerk response like that highlights everything that is wrong with United.

I look at tomorrow’s game against Liverpool, and I think the contrast is so stark.

My old club make decisions based on their long-term needs, and on what suits the manager and his coaching style the best. United seem to make decisions on the level of their desperation.

So at the start of the window, it was all about ‘being sensible’, ‘building for the future’, ‘focusing on youth’ and ‘departing from the policies of the last few years’.

Now after pressure from the fans, they’ve suddenly changed tack completely.

Casemiro at 30, and with questions about his knee? C’mon. That’s hardly building for the future – and the fee is nonsense.

I know critics will say my Liverpool connections are behind these comments.

But I think anyone in football can see Erik ten Hag has inherited a team and a squad that is a long distance away from what United were in the past.

They’ve always had elite players who were leaders – Keane, Scholes, Ferdinand, Stam, Van Nistelrooy, Cantona.

I played against them all and they were elite, pure and simple. Not this lot.

Opponents know it. Brighton and Brentford knew it. Ten Hag knows it, presumably that’s why they’ve spent a fortune on someone for the short term.

But this crazy Casemiro deal is getting back to United’s fundamental problem.

There is no consistency at the club in anything they do.

Let me draw a comparison with tomorrow’s opponents.

When Jurgen Klopp arrived, he actually inherited a foundation, even if the team wasn’t that great in Brendan Rodgers’ last year.

They had a director of football and an analytics department in place, who set a consistent standard in recruitment, and a long-term plan to back the manager.

Even then, it took Klopp four years to go from seventh into the Champions League, then the final. Building a team takes that long.

Hell, even Pep Guardiola took at least a year, and he inherited a team that had got to the semi-final of the Champions League.

Where are United’s foundations? Where is that consistency? Both Liverpool and City have consistently waited for the right players, rather than panic in the market.

How? Because they are stable clubs, with clear philosophies and a world view that looks at the next five years, not the next five months.

Since Sir Alex Ferguson, United have sacked their managers every two years.

Counting caretakers and interims, there have been EIGHT managers in eight years.

That’s absolutely insane. There’s no quick fix. There is a stark reality for them now.

The best players don’t want to go to United. You won’t get a Haaland or a Nunez, or even a Bellingham. You get a Real Madrid cast-off like Casemiro, or an overpriced kid like Antony.

You can, of course, keep spending blindly – hoping the desperate gamble pays off. Mind you, it didn’t with Falcao, Schweinsteiger, Mkhitaryan, Pogba, Lukaku, Sanchez to mention just a few.

Liverpool couldn’t match the biggest spenders, couldn’t attract the biggest players. So they used their analysis to unearth hidden gems… and Klopp took them to the elite level.

Think Salah. Think Mane. But think Alexander-Arnold and Robertson too.

Then the big stars start to come. Guardiola did it with the likes of Bernardo Silva too, and with Phil Foden. Even with Kevin De Bruyne,

Only when Guardiola arrived at City did he get into that world elite level.

Ten Hag clearly needs time, which seems to be in short supply at Old Trafford – the demonstrations planned for tomorrow night tell you that.

And they probably tell you why they’re suddenly trashing their own policies and splashing cash they said they wouldn’t.

Buying a £70m midfielder, and suggesting you’ll spend £80m on Antony sure appeases supporters.

But only for a few weeks. In the long run, it creates more headaches.

It means the clearly defined parameters have been ripped up again. It means the foundations are as far away as ever.

Manchester United are in a mess, and until they address the fundamental problem of leadership and direction at the club, of a clearly defined philosophy, they won’t get out of it.

Where are United’s foundations? Where

consistency? is that

Liverpool City and wait for the right players, rather than panic in the

transfer market