Former Man Utd star makes alarming admission over club culture

Former Manchester United midfielder Nemanja Matic has admitted winning trophies never felt like the club's "priority" during his time at Old Trafford.

Matic was a key part of the Chelsea side that won Premier League titles in both 2014/15 and 2016/17 before being sold to United in a deal worth £40m. He spent the next five years at Old Trafford but failed to lift any further trophies before his departure in 2022.

Now on the books at Lyon and preparing for a reunion with the Red Devils in Thursday's Europa League quarter-final first leg, Matic sat down with The Athletic to reflect on his time at United, who he accused of failing to match his ambition to win silverware.

"If I compare how we did with United now, then we did great, but of course United cannot be happy finishing second," Matic began. "United need to be winning leagues. We gave it our best and sometimes we'd get criticised, but I didn't see any major problems in the club. The organisation was very good, the conditions perfect.

"The difference I felt after Chelsea was that, at Chelsea, everything was about the result and winning trophies. That was the spirit in the whole club, even from the man who cuts the grass. Roman Abramovich (former Chelsea owner) would only ask us about results.

"At United, it was more commercial-minded. I started to think that after a couple of months in the club. I understand that our salary needs to be paid, but I felt that the results were not the focus like it was at Chelsea. I maybe did two commercial jobs at Chelsea, at United it was far more.

"I arrived at United with the anger to win trophies like I had at Chelsea, but step by step I started to feel that trophies were not the focus. Maybe I'm not right, but that was my feeling inside."

United's culture has attracted significant criticism in recent years and new minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has set about trying to rectify the club's issues of the past, although fresh concerns both on and off the pitch have left the Red Devils in turmoil.

New head coach Ruben Amorim has failed to oversee an improvement in results but has been tasked with instilling a new mindset in his squad, having openly admitted he is hoping to get his hands on the Premier League trophy as soon as possible.

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