Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher believes Erik ten Hag was given too much freedom to do what he wanted at Manchester United, which ultimately resulted in him losing his job.

The Dutchman has finally been fired from the Old Trafford job after just over two years. Having signed a new contract in the summer after winning the FA Cup, Ten Hag departs after just nine league games in the current campaign, winning just three of those.

Defeat to West Ham on Sunday, its fourth loss of the season, proved to be the final straw, although Carragher argues it should have happened much sooner after what has been a turbulent spell.

"It should have happened in the summer, and that's not on Erik ten Hag, that's on the new ownership, the model that has come into the club," Carragher told Sky Sports.

"All they've done is kicked the can down the road for nine league games that Manchester United have played this season and cost themselves PS200m in terms of bringing players in during the summer who the manager would've identified, maybe came to the club as well because they had a relationship with the manager in the past.

"It just seems daft really, the fact they kept him in the job because it was always inevitable this was going to happen. He had to hit the ground running, he had to almost be top of the league, there or thereabouts really, to possibly stay in a job."

That spending has come back to bite Ten Hag, Carragher feels. United splashed the cash again during the summer, bringing in the likes of Matthijs de Ligt, Leny Yoro and Joshua Zirkzee, only to find themselves sitting 14th in the Premier League at the moment.

United are now said to be looking at Ruben Amorim, who was previously the favorite to take over from Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, and Carragher has some advice for United's next appointment.

"Normally when you have a strong structure at a club, they say no to the manager when they want to do certain things. I think the problem at Manchester United is they've always said yes, no matter what the manager's wanted.

"Whether he's bought the right players in certain people's eyes, or if he's buying a player like Casemiro. You don't spend PS70m on someone who's over 30 and Real Madrid are happy to move on.

"That's just one example, and a strong structure at a football club would say no in those situations. I think for far too long, all the managers Manchester United have had, whoever they've wanted to sign, and more often than not they've gone back to their old clubs, even going back to Louis van Gaal and the Dutch players, they just buy who they want, no matter what the fee or what the age.

"The structure of the club has got to come in now and start saying no to managers and bringing in the right type of player."