The Red Devils’ recruitment strategy has largely failed across the last decade, with regular blockbuster deals making the club one of the world’s biggest spenders with little to show for it.
Sancho is among the several examples, falling flat after completing a long-anticipated £73million move from Dortmund in 2021.
The 24-year-old winger registered just 12 goals and six assists in 82 appearances before an explosive row with Erik ten Hag prompted his return to Germany in January.
He has rediscovered his form overseas, helping Dortmund reach their first Champions League final since 2013, in which they will face 14-time winners Real Madrid at Wembley Stadium.
It has sparked mass criticism of United for Sancho’s shortcomings. However, Neville has pushed back on that narrative, insisting he was included in the unwelcome trend of big signings failing in M16.
“You talk about an example of Manchester United, and we’ll come on to United in a bit, but Jadon Sancho, he was awful at United, he was awful. Let’s be clear,” Neville explained on The Overlap.
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“His performance levels, his confidence, his belief. He goes to a different team, and all of a sudden, you start to see a player, where you think, ‘How has that happened, why is that happening time and time again?'”
“Players with great reputations come into Old Trafford and they just don’t work. And they come back out, and they’re normal again. It’s probably happened for 10 years.”
Fernandes, now United’s captain, has comfortably been the club’s most successful recruit throughout a mediocre 11 years in Ferguson’s absence.
Neville has gone as far as to say that the Portuguese maestro is the only marquee signing to live up to expectations in that period.
He added: “I think over the last 10 years, there’s only be one player that United have signed that I think has actually lived up to expectations, or achieved what he has previous and that’s Bruno Fernandes.
“I can’t think of another signing that has gone onto excel at the club. Luke Shaw, to be fair, when he’s been fit, has played at a high level, I think, and grown from where he was maybe at Southampton – you could maybe argue that.
“But all the other big signings, whether it’s [Angel] Di Maria, [Bastian] Schweinsteiger, [Radamel] Falcao…
“Whether it’s [Paul] Pogba, whether it’s [Harry] Maguire, [Mason] Mount this season, [Raphael] Varane, every player – why is it that Jadon Sancho can come in, then all of a sudden just go back there [and succeed]?”
It’s an issue that Sir Jim Ratcliffe has actively worked to address by forming a new-look recruitment team at Old Trafford featuring Omar Berrada, Dan Ashworth and Jason Wilcox.
