Paul Parker insists Victor Lindelof and Harry Maguire's central-defensive partnership is not good enough for Manchester United.
The defensive duo have started all but one of United's Premier League games when both have been fit this season.
Despite establishing themselves as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's first-choice pairing, there have been questions raised about whether they are good enough to see the club challenging at the top of the Premier League title again.
Former United captain Gary Neville admitted this concern when speaking about the pair in December, although he did admit they were the best options available to Solskjaer at present.
"I like them, they both read the game well. Is it a top-class centre-back pairing that will win Manchester United titles again, get them to the top of the Champions League where they want to be? I'm not wholly convinced," Neville told Sky Sports ahead of United's draw with Everton in December.
That is the opinion of another United man in Parker, who insisted he doesn't think either are good enough given the rich history of defenders United have boasted in recent years.
“Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelöf are not good enough. I don’t know how they are going to improve on the two of them," told bonuscodebets.co.uk following United's loss to Arsenal.
"They still have players who won’t be taking United forward when you consider defenders like Jaap Stam, Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic who were vital when United teams were winning.
“A lot of people are talking about how much money United need to spend to bring in new defenders but what they are not thinking about is whether the players will actually want to come to Old Trafford right now.”
Speaking about Maguire's debut season at Old Trafford, Parker added: “He has done OK. He has not stood out for me and for the money that United paid for him, he has not earned that.
"You look at someone like Virgil van Dijk, who has absolutely been value for money, and you would go as far to say that he has exceeded that. I don’t think they needed to spend that money on Maguire. They got pressured into getting him from the previous manager when they did not need to spend that type of money.
"United were also pressured into getting rid of Chris Smalling which has now been deemed a mistake considering how well he is doing at Roma.”
