Rio Ferdinand slammed Manchester United’s recruitment over the last ten yearsCredit: PA

The pundit claimed Bruno Fernandes and Cristiano Ronaldo were two rare positive signingsCredit: AFP

Zlatan Ibrahimovic helped United win the Europa League in 2017

The Red Devils have spent significantly over that period and even set a new world record transfer fee with the signing of £89million Paul Pogba in 2016.

They have signed 14 players for £50m or more under various managers, with many other stars with big reputations arriving for less.

But Ferdiannd claims only three have been a success and lived up to expectations – Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Ferdinand said on The Sports Agents podcast: “When you look at the recruitment, I think there’s only three players that I can remember coming in and then going, ‘Okay, they’ve played at a level that you would have expected’.

“Bruno [Fernandes], Cristiano [Ronaldo] and Zlatan [Ibrahimovic]. The only three players I thought that you go, ‘Actually I saw consistently what I expected to see from them’.

“Everyone else just fell well short. For whatever reason it is, they just haven’t hit a standard you expect them to come in for.

“There’s no value in them in what you expect. So they have to get to the bottom of that.”

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has looked to address United’s recruitment failures by hiring Dan Ashworth as sporting director.

Jason Wilcox has also been confirmed as technical director, arriving from Southampton.

United are aiming to build a “best-in-class” academy recruitment team, with Sam Williams brought in from Ipswich as chief scout.