The Dutchman spent over £180million this summer in a bid to improve his squad.
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Rasmus Hojlund, Mason Mount, Andre Onana, Altay Bayindir and Jonny Evans all signed permanent deals before deadline day, while Sergio Reguilon and Sofyan Amrabat joined on loan.
However, Ferdinand and Scholes are not convinced that United’s seven new additions have made the squad better.
Speaking on TNT Sports ahead of Man Utd’s Champions League opener against Bayern Munich on Wednesday, Scholes, 48, said: “I think they are on a very similar path to last season. They had a really bad start (last term) and a poor start this season.
“I thought after last year they were going in a different direction and were starting to take this club somewhere.
“He (Ten Hag) sorted the discipline and then I thought in the summer, he was going to spend £200million to take this club to the next level.
“I don’t think the signings have done that. I think he has made his squad stronger, but I don’t think he has made it better.
“I don’t think he has made a team that can challenge for the Premier League title or for the competition they are in tonight.”
Ferdinand, 44, then urged the Red Devils to be smarter when recruiting players – much like Roberto De Zerbi’s Brighton.
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The ex-United defender added: “When you look at Brighton, they are a team over the last three or four years that have been building in terms of a structure and foundation at a football club, and you can see the way it’s playing out with their recruitment, and even their manager.
“We talk about rotation and changing of players. I think they changed five or six players against them, the player that scored a hat-trick the week before (Evan Ferguson) was on the bench.
“So, they are getting the best out of every single player in their squad, whereas at Manchester United, that’s not happening.”
Ten Hag’s side suffered a 3-1 defeat to Brighton at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Speaking after the match, the Man Utd manager bizarrely suggested that the Seagulls had spent just as much money as any other top team in the Premier League.
However, De Zerbi‘s starting line-up cost just £16m – a small fraction of United’s squad value.