ANDY COLE believes there is a “mole” in the Manchester United dressing room.
And the Red Devils legend reckons they are preventing the club from “moving forward”.
Manchester United are enduring a difficult seasonCredit: PA
Erik ten Hag is under pressure to keep hold of his job amid the miserable run of formCredit: PA
A series of stories relating to tensions and the atmosphere among the players at Old Trafford have surfaced in recent weeks.
And Cole insists that can only point to information being shared by someone on the inside.
He said: “There’s definitely a mole isn’t there?
“Nothing comes out of a good dressing room, regardless of what’s been going on.
“Players fall out, the manager and players fall out and these are things that you’d expect to happen in football, but if you’re in a good dressing room, nobody hears about what’s happening.
“If you’ve got that winning mentality and you want to compete, then not everybody’s going to get on due to the competitive nature of the dressing room.
“At Manchester United now, information is being leaked so regularly and if the dressing room was truly united, then that wouldn’t be happening.
“Information usually comes out when things aren’t going well. Some players won’t be happy about their game time, the form of the team or their own form.
“Everything that’s coming out of the dressing room is negative and that can’t be helping the team and allowing them to move forward.”
United have constantly hit the headlines for the drama on and off the field this season – with 12 defeats from 24 matches in all competitions plus uncertainty over the futures of Jadon Sancho, manager Erik ten Hag and even the club’s ownership amid the imminent takeover.
SunSport revealed Ten Hag is confident he will keep his job until he sits down for talks with Sir Jim Ratcliffe when his 25 per cent purchase of United is completed.
However, Graham Potter has been lined up as a possible replacement if Ten Hag does get the axe.
And the club could be forced to keep hold of Sancho if they cannot find a suitor for their £350,000-a-week winger.
Sancho’s public fallout with Ten Hag comes after the manager’s tensions with Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Maguire while the Dutchman has also not always seen eye-to-eye with Anthony Martial or Marcus Rashford.
‘VERY CAREFUL’
Treble-winner Cole, 52, added to Betfred: “They still need the players he’s fallen out with. It’s not like Manchester United are in the position to challenge for the Premier League title and their squad’s good enough to allow players to move on.
“When you’re really in a position of power, your team is playing well and you’re competing, it’s totally different.
“It’s a completely different situation now to when Sir Alex Ferguson was at the club. Players used to be desperate to come to Manchester United and to win things.
“If it was like the old days, Erik ten Hag could fall out with Jadon Sancho and go out and get X, Y or Z.
“It’s a little bit different now because of the position that Manchester United find themselves in. It’s now harder for the club to entice players and encourage them to move to Old Trafford.
“How many big names do you see being linked with moves to Manchester United now? Barely any. All the big names are now linked with moves to the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool.
“When you fall out with players, you have to be very careful because ultimately you’re going to need them in the end, unless their replacement is better than what you had previously.
“For a long time now, Manchester United have brought in players who haven’t been much better than the players they’ve let go. We’ve been caught in that situation for over ten years now.”
Andy Cole is convinced there is a mole in the dressing roomCredit: Getty
