Paul Scholes is left baffled by two Man United summer transfers - and asks 'where's the common sense?'

Paul Scholes has questioned Manchester United's transfer strategy, insisting the club has learned nothing from past mistakes.

The Old Trafford legend was left baffled by the decision to sell Rasmus Hojlund and replace him with Benjamin Sesko, describing the deal as 'exactly the same' error made two years ago. 

Hojlund was signed from Atalanta in 2023 and scored 26 goals in 95 appearances, but has rediscovered form on loan at Napoli, netting four in his first six games under Antonio Conte.

Sesko, signed from RB Leipzig for £73.7m last summer, has also made a decent start, but Scholes said he was baffled by both transfers and argued that the club has again gambled on youth without sufficient depth or experience in attack.

'You look at Rasmus Hojlund, 22-year-old kid, came when he was 20 years of age,' Scholes said on The Good, The Bad and The Football podcast. 

'One centre-forward for Manchester United and everything was on him, the pressure was on him and he couldn't handle it. He should be coming in and out of the team. There should be three or four centre-forwards there.

'This summer, what do they do? They let him go and they buy another one, very similar, exactly the same! 22 years of age. He's started ok, he looks like he's getting better. But where's the common sense in that?'

Scholes drew comparisons with his own early days at Old Trafford, recalling how Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was eased into the squad when joining from Molde in 1996. 

At the time, United already had Eric Cantona, Andy Cole, and would soon add Teddy Sheringham and Dwight Yorke to compete for places.

'It's like Ole coming over to us when he was 22 and we had no other centre-forward and he was the one playing every week,' Scholes said. 'You'd kill him!'

Scholes, in discussion with Nicky Butt and Paddy McGuinness, lamented the lack of senior players around today's youngsters, contrasting it to the famed Class of '92 era.

Butt maintained that the current squad offers little support or protection for developing talent.

'That's us as well, when we played. They all talk about our group coming through. But we didn't play every game, we weren't in every week with all the pressure on our shoulders,' Butt said. 

'You look to your left and you'd have Roy Keane, you look to your right and you'd have Bryan Robson or Brian McClair. 

'You're surrounded by unbelievable players and you think, it's easy for me because I can play 6 out of 10 today and we're still going to win because we've got all these players around us. They don't have that now. I do feel sorry for the players.'

Scholes' comments come amid scrutiny over United's summer overhaul. The club parted ways with Hojlund, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Antony, while Sesko, Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha arrived. 

Red Devils boss Ruben Amorim has since praised Sesko's early form, calling him 'a different type of profile inside the box' and 'someone who can improve the connection with his team-mates.'

United's next test comes away to Liverpool after the international break, where Amorim will hope Sesko can continue to justify his manager's faith.