Bastian Schweinsteiger believes Manchester United need to change their transfer policy - and has urged them to look at Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool as an example.
The Red Devils have spent a record £1.19billion more on transfers than they have recouped through player sales over the past decade, with Paul Pogba, Harry Maguire and Jadon Sancho among the most expensive arrivals. Despite the vast amount spent, United have not had the required success on the pitch.
In fact, since Sir Alex Ferguson left Old Trafford in May 2013, United have failed to win the Premier League. They have won the FA Cup once, the League Cup twice and the Europa League in the last 11 years. It's an appalling return for a club which spent that amount of money on transfers.
And Schweinsteiger, who made 35 appearances during his time at United, has told his former employers to look at how Klopp first revolutionised Borussia Dortmund before then having a similar impact at Liverpool. The ex-Bayern Munich midfielder also highlighted eight players Klopp signed.
"Sometimes you spend money completely wrong," he told The Overlap and Sky Bet. "You must adapt to how football is changing or not changing and the easiest example where [Manchester] United should have learned out of it – just look over there [Liverpool]. What did [Jürgen] Klopp do? Did he sign a lot of huge money transfers? No.
"Look where he got [Andy] Robertson and others from. He did the same at Borussia Dortmund where he found [Robert] Lewandowski, [Mario] Gotze, [Mats] Hummels, [Lukasz] Piszczek, [Jakub] Blaszczykowski, [Ilkay] Gündogan, [Marco] Reus – all those players.
"All you need to do is look 45 miles over and see how Liverpool do it and how long they've been dominating for. They are stable, it doesn't have the wave like United does."
A boyhood Bayern Munich supporter, Schweinsteiger spent the majority of his career at the club, making 500 appearances and winning several major honours, before leaving to join United in July 2015. He started off his United career as an integral figure under Louis van Gaal and won the FA Cup during his debut season.
However, Schweinsteiger was frozen out by new manager Jose Mourinho the following summer, leaving him to train with the Under 16s and not allowed in the first team dressing room. The German eventually found a way back in but decided to depart Manchester for Chicago Fire in March 2017.
"I was training alone for at least three months with a fitness coach," he said. "I trained before and after the (first) team. (Mourinho) never let me train with the first team. I guess they wanted to get rid of me. In that moment, I was still super happy at United, I loved to wear the jersey, I loved it.
"I was thinking that maybe it was just a period, I will train now and keep myself fit and maybe one day they'll change their mind. My dream was to always step back out into Old Trafford."
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