Former Norway striker Jan Age Fjortoft has questioned Manchester United's activities in the transfer window, suggesting they should have known several targets would not be available.
On transfer deadline day the Red Devils brought in just the untested French youngster Anthony Martial, whose career is still in its infancy.
Martial has arrived for what in England is said to be a fee of £36m, from Monaco, while the deal contains a number of add-ons.
Manchester United this summer have lost Robin van Persie, Radamel Falcao and Javier Hernandez from their striking stock, while Adnan Januzaj has left on loan.
The Red Devils were linked with Barcelona's Neymar and Bayern Munich pair Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Muller.
relatedNewsStory
For Fjortoft, that shows the Red Devils were not serious about making signings.
He took to Twitter to write: "In my book, if you try to sign Neymar, Muller, Lewandoswki, you're not really trying because there was no chance they would be available."
Manchester United must now head into the season with wafer thin attacking options, while they have also failed to secure another centre-back, but did let Jonny Evans join West Brom.
