Manchester United loanee Eric Bailly has criticised the club for what he feels is an unfair bias towards English players.
The Ivory Coast international joined Marseille on a season-long loan this summer after falling down the pecking order at United.
Erik ten Hag made a wise decision to sign a new centre-back this summer, with Lisandro Martinez arriving from Ajax, and that meant Bailly was seen as being surplus to requirements.
The Argentine has made a huge difference at the back after taking Harry Maguire’s place in the starting line-up.
However, Bailly has done an interview to hit out at United by suggesting he was overlooked because of an internal issue that saw managers favour English players.
“The club should avoid favouring English players and give everyone a chance,” Bailly told The Times.
“[The club should] encourage competition in the dressing room, not just look out for some. I’ve always had the feeling that the national player was prioritised.
“That doesn’t happen at Chelsea or other big Premier League clubs. Some people take it for granted that they are going to start, and that weakens the team.
“Luckily [Erik] Ten Hag has a lot of character and I hope he can change that dynamic.”
Martinez isn’t English. He’s just better.
Although Bailly didn’t name anyone in particular, I think we can all take a guess at who he is talking about because it sounds like a clear reference to Harry Maguire.
Marcus Rashford (also English) lost his place in the team last season, only to be replaced by Anthony Elanga.
Tyrell Malacia has replaced Luke Shaw at left-back.
This isn’t one of Bailly’s best interviews.
This just goes to show how toxic the dressing room was last season. Pogba, Henderson & now Bailly have all gone ahead to conduct (in my own opinion) despicable interviews bashing the club. The sad part is some of the players still at the club are this way, Egotistical and disrespectful. Shaw for example. Remember when he made the interview about enjoying playing for England more than United. I’ve never seen the players of other clubs doing this.
He might have played more if he hadn’t spent so much time on the treatment table!
Snowflake is what he is
You’re better than this! Strettynews.
Bailly has clearly spoken the minds of the voiceless fans..
Malacia came in this season Nick! And Maguire ain’t better than him in any way.
We can all see how the policy of buying young English talent has caused the club.. Lazy, proud, useless
Don’t get me wrong Ben! Bailly makes a valid point here. I remember when Ole kept Jesse in the starting line up despite performances that were simply not good enough. Personally, I think It’s absolutely unprofessional to make certain statements regarding your current or former employees and Man United players seem to get really chatty when they leave the club.
Jesse only started 4 under Ole in 20/21 and was sub 18 times
Ozzie-Nick is on point.In the season before the one u mention Lingard was fielded many times by Ole though he was underperforming.He registered 0 goals & 0 assists the whole season after starting in several games.
On the contrary I think he does have a valid point to some extent.The changes you mention in the article in your attempt to debunk his argument,wherein underperforming English players are being dropped have all happened under the current ten Hag regime which so far appear to be built on meritocracy & rightly so,a feat that is quite refreshing.& ironically you quote Eric lauding the current manager for his strong character.So he seems to have noted something positive about ten Hag after all.
The situation wasn’t so under the Ole regime for instance,a manager who had indicated his desire for “young & hungry English players’ as his preference in recruitment.To make matters worse he seemed to have created a clique of players,predominately English who seemed to be untouchable regardless of how bad they performed.Maguire,Shaw, Rashford & Wan-Bissaka easily come to mind.They would even be rushed into the team even if they were coming from injury & hadn’t regained their full fitness.it happened with Maguire & Rashford.A good example is how the latter, though not fully recovered from an injury & very low in confidence was rushed into replacing Ighalo,who though not a marquee player,in all fairness gave a decent goal return in the few games he played.
Of course they were other players like Pobga & de Gea whom Ole seemed to accord the same preference which perhaps renders the issue more to do with his own inaptitude, lack of decisiveness & ruthlessness in his character rather than a blatant bias towards English players’.Its the referenced flaw that ultimately led to his downfall & failure to win anything at the club.I still believe had Ole been bold & decisive he should at least won something at the club though I still doubt his pedigree as a good manager.