The former Red Devils striker is dismayed at the club’s position and believes the £70million deal to sign the ex-Real Madrid midfielder would have made more sense earlier in the summer.

“United are struggling,” he told Lord Ping. “They can’t get deals over the line, it’s as simple as that.

“Casemiro is a great player with pedigree, but he clearly wasn’t the first choice pick otherwise United would have signed him in June. Perhaps the player wanted a new challenge and saw United as a great opportunity.

“He’s never played in this league either. It is a new environment for him. I don’t think he is the type of player United need at the moment, but United are not getting top targets through the door so I imagine they’ve been a bit creative and signed the best player they could have done.”

Yorke voiced his concern that United’s lack of a title challenge for the best part of a decade has led to a “snowball” effect with a continual decline against the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool.

“In terms of the United challenging for the league title, we haven’t done that for a while and I don’t think the recruitment has helped,” he added.

“It seems like the decline has been allowed to snowball and every year it has made recruitment more and more difficult.

“United used to be able to pick the best players in Europe, but City and Liverpool are more attractive clubs for players these days. Not qualifying for the Champions League, not playing expansive and flamboyant football, has contributed to United missing out on players. I feel like we’ve been playing catch-up for far too long.

“The level of players that we’ve been able to attract is one level below elite over the last few seasons. That needs to change.”