By Mustapha Habeeb
October 26th, 2024
Manchester United have held secret talks with a number of managers according to reports, leaving Erik ten Hag’s future in serious doubt. The Dutchman held onto his job this summer after the Old Trafford hierarchy, headed up by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, decided to hand him a new deal. But that was only after interviewing potential replacements, including Thomas Tuchel, who has since taken over as England boss.
According to the Daily Mail, United are back in the market scoping out a possible successor to Ten Hag. It is claimed chief executive Omar Berrada already travelled to Spain for talks with former Barcelona manager Xavi. Sporting Lisbon’s Ruben Amorim, ex-Borussia Dortmund coach Edin Terzic and Brentford’s Thomas Frank are also said to be on a four-man shortlist. Gareth Southgate – who stepped down as Three Lions manager after Euro 2024 – and out-of-work Graham Potter are also linked.
United are 12th in the Premier League table going into their trip to West Ham this Sunday. And Ten Hag’s side have failed to win any of their first three Europa League ties following a draw with Fenerbahce in Istanbul.
The ex-Ajax boss has consistently insisted that he is on the same page as United’s leadership team of Berrada, sporting director Dan Ashworth and technical director Jason Wilcox. But billionaire Ineos owner Ratcliffe refuses to give Ten Hag his public backing. And United’s co-owners are weighing up their options again amid concern over the lack of progress after another £200million was spent on transfers.
Ten Hag brought in Leny Yoro, Manuel Ugarte, Matthijs de Ligt, Joshua Zirkzee and Noussair Mazraou this summer. But United legend Paul Scholes claimed he is yet to see any improvements following a 1-1 draw at Fenerbahce this week. He said:
“I think they have played in spells where they’ve looked okay. They have missed a lot of chances as well. “But I think league position tells you everything. And I’m talking about both leagues, 11th in the Premier League, 21st in the Europa League”.
“There’s been no improvement. I think that’s the biggest disappointment with two and a little bit years in, a lot of money has been spent and we’re not seeing improvement.
“You’d like to think by now they’re up there challenging them. The top three teams I know Liverpool, City and Arsenal are ahead of most other teams. “You’d like to see them getting even a little bit closer to that, but it doesn’t feel like it. “I do actually think on Saturday they got closer to having the best team out, which has been a while.
“I think Luke Shaw still needs to come into that. They’ve got the young lad Leny Yoro who will probably come into that. “Mainoo back into midfield and I thought there were signs, second half especially, that they scored two really good goals which excited you. So look fingers crossed they can go on and improve.”