Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has criticised the club's transfer policy under manager Louis Van Gaal.

Ferdinand believes that United shouldn't have let the likes of Angel Di Maria, Nani, Patrice Evra, Danny Welbeck, Javier Hernandez, Jonny Evans, Darren Fletcher, Rafael and Shinji Kagawa leave the club.

"There's a list of players I've written down here; Di Maria, Nani, Evra, Welbeck, Chicharito, Evans, Fletcher, Rafael, Kagawa, I could go on," Ferdinand told BT Sport, following the Red Devils' 2-0 Europa League defeat to Liverpool on Thursday.

"Are they worse than the players that were out there? They're better than that team out there, them players.

"That's the problem and that's why where I see here's been a shift in the past couple of years is almost, well it has gone backwards, and that's the disappointing thing."