Last season was a disaster at Old Trafford and it seems Erik ten Hag can only improve on it, but the pressure is still on the relatively unproven Dutchman
had finished second the previous term and were bolstered by the signings of Jadon Sancho, Raphaël Varane and Cristiano Ronaldo – billing a fourth-place finish as acceptable would have been, erm, unacceptable. Under Ole Gunnar Solskjær winning a 21st crown was the ambition.
Why it might happen: the 52-year-old has signed Tyrell Malacia, a 22-year-old dynamic left-back, Christian Eriksen on a free as well as Lisandro Martínez, a feisty defender, from Ajax. If – a big one – Frenkie de Jong follows from Barcelona Ten Hag will have a complete quartet of his targets: fair reason for optimism.Why it might not: Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal have strengthened their ranks.
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag leads his team’s training session for the pre-season tour match against Liverpool in Bangkok.Considering the scale of the rebuild facing Ten Hag to be able to recruit a player of Christian Eriksen’s calibre for no fee could be the actual definition of “transfer coup”. This is a playmaker with a claim to be on the same plane of gamechanging ability as Bruno Fernandes, who is United’s most consistent performer .
commercial phenomenon: why would they not? – and though Ten Hag is adamant he is not for sale the manager cannot be blamed if secretly praying for an exit. Ronaldo’s 37-year-old legs can no longer execute a performance of 90 minutes running. Beyond Ronaldo, Eriksen can be expected to accumulate serious sales numbers.
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