With reports suggesting that Thomas Tuchel could yet replace Erik ten Hag at Manchester United, two of the Red Devils’ summer signings must be wondering when their luck will turn.
A change in management may go down well with some sections of the dressing room.
Some of the Man United squad reportedly feel Erik ten Hag is a dead man walking while others have cast doubt on a kamikaze tactical set up which saw the Premier League giants concede six goals this week against Tottenham and Porto.
But there are others in red who may be wondering that the worst is yet to come.
Manchester United signed Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui from Bayern Munich over the summer. And the former Ajax duo opened up on the role Ten Hag played in luring them to Old Trafford.
“Of course, it’s a big factor,” Mazroui said after reuniting with the manager he worked under at the Johan Cruyff Arena. “Always, if you decide to go to another club, you have to decide if the manager and his way of seeing football fits into your way of playing football.
“I knew him already. I knew his way of seeing the game and his style really fits into how I play. That’s really a big factor. That you work beforehand with him also makes it easier.
“I knew what he expected from me and he knows it from my side as well.”
De Ligt then told reporters that Ten Hag was a coach who ‘knows how to get the best out of me’.
Thomas Tuchel hire may be a problem for two Manchester United stars
Mazraoui was keen to point out that the presence of Ten Hag in the dugout was not the ‘only factor’ in his decision to swap the Allianz Arena for Old Trafford. Another will have been the lack of game time afforded to him at Bayern Munich.
Mazraoui started only 15 Bundesliga games in 2023/24. That is just one shy of De Ligt’s own tally.
And, if the iNews are correct in saying that Manchester United will turn to Thomas Tuchel again should Ineos swing the axe on Ten Hag, two players who may have been pleased to see the back of their former Bayern boss may soon find themselves bidding him a rather awkward welcome to England’s north west.
If Ten Hag was a big reason why Mazraoui and De Ligt wanted to join Man United, then Tuchel was a big reason why both players arrived at Old Trafford with their reputations having taken a hit.
Tuchel did praise Mazraoui’s technical ability, mirroring the under-fire United boss when Ten Hag highlighted the £13 million Moroccan’s press-resistant talents and two-footedness.
But the German seemed less enamoured about the full-back’s physicality. And it’s telling that, despite Joshua Kimmich’s outspoken desire to play in a midfield role, he was often installed on the right ahead of Mazraoui.
“We don’t need to talk about his technical skills and his understanding of the game. That’s great,” Tuchel said of Man United’s £12.7 million summer signing. “But he has to develop some grit and push himself to the physical limit.
“Nous has to fight, fight, fight.”
As for De Ligt – while it is simply wrong to suggest that he had fallen behind Eric Dier in Tuchel’s pecking order, given that he was a regular starter in the Bundesliga and the Champions League during the final few months of the season – it’s fair to suggest Ten Hag’s potential successor never seemed totally convinced.
Tuchel reportedly had doubts about Man United’s Matthijs de Ligt
According to TZ, Tuchel grew frustrated with what he viewed as De Ligt’s sluggishness in possession and a lack of line-breaking passes against opposition who tended to plug up the midfield.
Like with Mazraoui, Tuchel praised De Ligt publicly, albeit without completely throwing his weight behind a man who was left on the bench against testing opposition such as Bayer Leverkusen, Stuttgart and future employers Manchester United.
“He is having a difficult time because of the competition,” Tuchel said in February after De Ligt was forced to watch on from the sidelines as his Bayern team-mates were thrashed 3-0 at the Bay Arena.
“He’s a natural fighter, a guy who made [an impact] at Ajax and Juventus. We’ll need him. [But] there is tough competition at the moment.”
With Man United’s new backroom staff calling the shots these days, it would be an exaggeration to suggest that Mazraoui and De Ligt are nothing more than ‘Ten Hag signings’. It would also be an exaggeration to suggest that Tuchel simply didn’t fancy either player.
But it is tempting to wonder, had Tuchel not turned down the Man United job when offered it over the summer, would De Ligt and Mazraoui be earning a living at Old Trafford right now?
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