Man Utd: ‘Furious bust-up’ claims cleared up by Fabrizio Romano; Ferdinand says ‘open heart surgery’ is required

Four Manchester United players were reportedly ‘involved in a furious dressing-room bust-up’ after Saturday’s 3-1 defeat to Brighton at Old Trafford.

It’s been a very disappointing start to the season for the Red Devils; they have picked up just six points in five games so far, trailing league leaders Man City by nine points.

Pressure is beginning to mount on Erik ten Hag, with a number of off-field issues exacerbating Man Utd’s problems on the pitch. Jadon Sancho’s situation is one of them, with the winger currently banished from the first-team squad.

Now, according to the Sun, Man Utd’s problems have just got a whole lot worse. They claim that four of their players were involved in a bust-up after their defeat to Brighton on Saturday.

Club captain Bruno Fernandes allegedly ‘confronted’ fellow midfielder Scott McTominay, while centre-back pairing Lisandro Martinez and Victor Lindelof ‘lost it with each other’ following a ‘calamitous defensive display.’

According to Fabrizio Romano, though, the claims of a changing room scrap from the Sun are wide of the mark.

On Twitter, the reputed journo said: “Manchester United have denied ‘furious dressing room bust-up’ after losing 3-1 to Brighton.

“Erik ten Hag remains in control of the situation and focused on the project despite poor start.”

READ MORE: Gary Neville names two Man Utd stars who could be having damaging effect on Old Trafford dressing room

Ferdinand: Man Utd need ‘open heart surgery’

Whether or not the Man Utd ‘bust up’ story is true is up for debate, but it’s pretty clear that everything isn’t fine and dandy behind the scenes at the moment.

Man Utd legend Rio Ferdinand has admitted that the club needs big changes, and agreed with Ralf Rangnick’s claim that it needs ‘open heart surgery.’

Ferdinand said on his FIVE YouTube channel: “People are looking for a scapegoat, that’s the way the media is right now people look for a scapegoat and go that’s the reason.

“I see people saying [Marcus] Rashford isn’t working hard enough, or Bruno [Fernandes] is the captain. Ralf Rangnick’s comments when he left were along the lines of this doesn’t need medicine, this needs open heart surgery.

“No one looked at that comment and thought ‘let me dig into that’. It shows you that not one individual is going to solve this problem.

“We had Cristiano Ronaldo, what he’s done in the game, and he can’t solve it.

“We’ve had a load of managers come in with huge reputations and they haven’t sorted it out. Spent a lot of money and that hasn’t sorted it out.”

It’s definitely turbulent times for Ten Hag and Man Utd fans at the moment. It will be interesting to see if the Red Devils can bounce back from their poor start when they play Bayern Munich in their Champions League opener on Wednesday.

READ MORE: Man Utd deal penned as Fabrizio Romano confirms forward has signed in landmark agreement