Manchester United have wasted £8.5million on a player who recruitment staff had doubts over

Erik ten Hag lauded Sofyan Amrabat's versatility when he signed for Manchester United, suggesting he possessed the qualities to play in four different roles.

"What we missed in our squad was behind Casemiro, another one, typical holding midfielder. So with him, we have one," Ten Hag said about Amrabat after his loan move.

"But also Amrabat can play alongside Casemiro because he is also capable of playing in a higher position on the pitch, also he can play as a wing-back or full-back."

Ten Hag forgot to mention the fifth role that Amrabat could play: the bench warmer and an extra body in training at Carrington to prepare for matches.

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Unfortunately for Amrabat, he's made just one start - in the FA Cup - across all competitions in 2024 and he's become an irrelevance in the second half of the season.

That start came in the 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest in the fifth round of England's oldest cup competition and his last start before that came against Liverpool in December.

Amrabat has played just over 1,100 minutes in a United shirt, which means he's averaged 157 minutes each month since his arrival and that emphasises his peripheral status.

The 27-year-old travelled to the Africa Cup of Nations with Morocco in January and nobody suggested his absence would be a blow because he's hardly played for United.

There was a small section of the fanbase on social media that said Amrabat would be the club's saviour this season, one of the final pieces to the midfield jigsaw.

The analytics community pointed to his promising statistics with Fiorentina in Serie A, while others based their