Here's Schmeichel furious with Man United: Perplexity, disappointment and a hint of anger.
These are the feelings that Peter Schmeichel, eternal Manchester United icon and legendary Danish goalkeeper, cannot hide when he talks about his former club.
A winner of everything with the Red Devils – five Premier League titles, a Champions League title and an FA Cup under Sir Alex Ferguson – and the architect of Denmark’s triumph at the 1992 European Championship, Schmeichel minces no words in the BBC podcast Sacked in the Morning.
The attack is frontal: the club made a grave mistake in letting Rasmus Hojlund and Scott McTominay go to Napoli, opting instead for a transfer move that, in their opinion, reeks of favoritism and strategic shortsightedness. The spark is lit by the recent successes of the two former Rossoblu players in Serie A.
McTominay, sold last summer for €30,5 million to Napoli – where he became a mainstay in the Italian champions' midfield, scoring crucial goals and playing a leading role – and Hojlund, loaned to the Partenopei for the 2025/26 season after a troubled year at United.
The Dane, who arrived at Old Trafford in 2023 with the label of predestined, has found new life under the Napoli sun: already three goals in five games, served up assists like manna from heaven by a Kevin De Bruyne in dazzling form.
"I've been saying this for two and a half years: Hojlund is a striker who scores 25 goals a season, but he needed to be looked after," Schmeichel thunders in the podcast. "Just look at what he's doing at Napoli with De Bruyne and McTominay: he scores goals. We let him go based on his stats—very few goals last season—and signed Sesko. Why? Because our director comes from Leipzig, Sesko's former club, and he needs to make his mark."
The reference is to the bombshell transfer of Benjamin Sesko, the 22-year-old Slovenian acquired from RB Leipzig for 85 million euros in August.
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Schmeichel spares no criticism of sporting director Dan Ashworth, accusing him of prioritizing personal connections over a long-term vision. And what about McTominay? "What's he doing at Napoli? He's a Manchester United player," blurts out the 61-year-old, who sees the Scottish midfielder as the sacrificial victim of a rigid tactical policy.
The problem was his versatility: the coaches didn't trust him to build a team around him, because they didn't know how to position him precisely. They want specialists, not all-rounders. He's been penalized several times. Honestly, I don't understand why Hojlund and McTominay are at Napoli.
There was no one here with more enthusiasm than Hojlund: he had supported United since he was 10 years old, the fans loved him because he worked hard and never complained." Schmeichel's words echo a chorus of complaints among former Red Devils. Paul Scholes, another club legend, had already pointed the finger at the "hard-wired decision" to sell the two in pursuit of Sesko, calling it an "ego game" that risks costing them dearly in the Scudetto race.
Meanwhile, the numbers speak for themselves: at Napoli, Hojlund is averaging a goal every 120 minutes, compared to the paltry 0,4 in his final year in Manchester. McTominay, meanwhile, has already collected two assists and a winner against Juventus, contributing to the Neapolitans' 100% away win record.
According to an Opta report, Serie A has seen a 15% increase in talent theft from the Premier League over the past two years, with clubs like Napoli, thanks to a shrewd budget, chipping away at the English giants' margins, which are struggling with their identity crisis. For Schmeichel, who hung up his gloves in 2003 after a dream career (he won the Yashin Award for best goalkeeper at the 1998 World Cup), this is more than a tactical criticism: it's a wake-up call for a United side that, post-Ferguson, is groping in the dark.
"Confidence isn't just about winning trophies, it's about building trust," the former No. 1 seems to be saying, paraphrasing his mantra. While Vesuvius lights up the blue nights of Hojlund and McTominay—with Napoli fans already singing hymns in their honor—there's a bitter taste in the mouth at Old Trafford.
In an increasingly globalized football, where million-dollar transfers mingle with stories of personal redemption, Schmeichel reminds us that a player's true value lies not in cold numbers, but in the heart that beats for a shirt. And United, perhaps, should learn to trust theirs more.
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