Manchester United's £36.5m summer signing Joshua Zirkzee was booed by home fans after being substituted in the first half of their Premier League clash against Newcastle.
United had made a miserable start to the match and found themselves two goals down in the first half hour after headers from Alexander Isak and Joelinton.
Ruben Amorim decided he had seen enough and opted to replace Zirkzee with Kobbie Mainoo with almost 15 minutes left in the first half.
As he began to run off the field, there was a roar from the home fans who were clearly happy to see Zirkzee break through.
The fan reaction led co-commentator and former United player Gary Neville to express some sympathy for Zirkzee.
“I actually feel sorry for him, I really do,” Neville said.
Joshua Zirkzee was booed by his own fans in the first half against Newcastle
Zirkzee grabbed his coat and walked through the tunnel before returning to the bench.
Gary Neville admitted that he felt sorry for Zirkzee after his own fans mocked him.
“I know he's making a lot of money here, but there's a human being there who's basically being cheered on by his own fans and that's brutal.
“I haven't seen that many times at Old Trafford in the 43 years I've been coming here.”
Once on the bench, Zirkzee picked up his coat and quickly walked down the sideline before heading toward the tunnel.
Neville continued: 'He's had enough and I don't really blame him. (It's) a huge shame, I hope some of the fans there give him something. “He hasn't played well, let's be clear, everyone has been absolutely horrible.”
A few minutes later, Zirkzee returned to the dugout with a bottle of water in hand as he rejoined United's substitutes for the night.
Neville would go on to claim that United were “the worst pound-for-pound team in the country” as he watched his former club get completely outclassed by Newcastle on their own turf.
Even before a ball was kicked, Neville had expressed concern about United's summer signings, including Zirkzee, and how they had struggled to adapt to Old Trafford.
“I'm surprised how bad those players have been in their first few months at this club,” he said before kickoff.
Neville went on to claim that United are the “pound for pound worst team in the country”.
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And it has happened again. I've said before that this club has been a kind of graveyard for players with a decent reputation. But when they signed players like Ugarte, De Ligt, Yoro, Zirkzee, I didn't hear anyone say “they signed a bunch of bums”.
They've signed some half-decent players who you thought would improve the team. The problem is that when you see them play here in a red shirt, it seems that Manchester United are actually worse than before.
“That's the strange thing, that's the strange thing that I'm going to keep working on because these players haven't suddenly become bad players overnight when they come to Manchester United. But it seems like that is the case and it's happening again against our eyes.'