A former Middlesbrough player has made his feelings on one Manchester United star very clear this week.
The link between Manchester United and Middlesbrough has grown somewhat over the last few years thanks to Michael Carrick.
The Middlesbrough manager spent the majority of his playing career plying his trade at Old Trafford.
Carrick also enjoyed a brief spell in the Man Utd dugout before taking his first permanent role as a manager at the Riverside Stadium in October 2022.
More recently, during the September international break, the ex-midfielder along with the likes of Wayne Rooney, Antonio Valencia and Paul Scholes returned to United for a friendly meeting with Celtic.
Carrick spoke to Rooney, who is now manager of Plymouth Argyle, earlier in September as well ahead of Middlesbrough’s meeting with Sunderland.
Rooney’s Plymouth beat the Black Cats 3-2 and the Boro coach was seemingly keen to get some tips on how to get the better of Regis Le Bris’ side.
Whatever the pair discussed clearly didn’t help, however, as Sunderland beat Middlesbrough 1-0.
Former Middlesbrough star David Wheater slams Manchester United player
Now, ex-Boro man David Wheater has made his feelings about one current Manchester United player very clear.
The Red Devils were in Europa League action on Thursday evening, taking on FC Porto at the Estadio do Dragao.
In typical Man Utd fashion, at least since Sir Alex Ferguson left, they managed to blow a two-goal lead and were forced to settle for a 3-3 draw thanks to a late Harry Maguire effort.
While Maguire may have saved the day, Wheater was not impressed with what he saw from one of the Englishman’s fellow centre-backs on the night.
Wheater took to X/Twitter to slam Matthijs de Ligt, claiming he is better than the Dutchman despite his weight and ‘dodgy ankle’.
He wrote: “I’m better than de ligt at this very moment and Im 20kg overweight and a dodgy ankle.”
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What happened to David Wheater after leaving Middlesbrough
Born in Redcar, Wheater began his career with Middlesbrough’s academy before being promoted to the senior team in 2006.
He went on to play 157 times for the Teessiders, scoring 11 goals and providing two assists in all competitions.
The now 37-year-old spent the majority of his playing career at Bolton Wanderers though, featuring 236 times after joining them in 2011.
Wheater left Bolton in 2019, going on to have a two-year stint with Oldham Athletic.
The former stopper returned to the North East in 2022 for a brief spell with Darlington and retired from playing ahead of the 2023/24 season getting underway.