Sir Jim Ratcliffe is planning big changes at Manchester United but Erik ten Hag still ‘expects’ to have a degree of control over transfers at the Premier League giants.
Rarely at the top level of European football does a manager have quite so much power over recruitment. Almost every one of the players Manchester United have signed since hiring Erik ten Hag in 2021 have had the Dutchman’s fingerprints all over them.
Antony, Andre Onana, Lisandro Martinez and Sofyan Amrabat worked with Ten Hag before, after all. The one-time Utrecht and Ajax boss also came up against both Wout Weghorst and Tyrell Malacia during his successful spell in the Netherlands.
Manchester United could hire director of football
Now, whether or not you think Ten Hag’s approach has been a success thus far, it’s fair to say most Manchester United supporters would welcome the introduction of a top-level talentspotter such as a Paul Mitchell or, to a lesser extent, a Lee Congerton or a Dougie Freedman.
What happens, for instance, happens to Antony, Amrabat and co if Ten Hag loses his job and is subsequently replaced by a coach who does not share his admiration for these Eredivisie expats? Recruiting players specifically for one manager brings with it certain longer-term risks.
Once Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s minority takeover is finally ratified – reportedly next week, but it was supposed to be this week and lost week too – one of the 71-year-old’s first acts may be to bring in a director of football to work alongside Ten Hag, with the task of improving the club’s rather dismal recruitment record in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era.
The number of ‘misses’, under Ed Woodward and Richard Arnold, certainly dwarf the ‘hits’.
Liverpool’s Salah success shows how United can benefit
According to ESPN, Ten Hag still ‘expects’ to have the option to ‘veto all transfer decisions’. In short, that means if Ten Hag doesn’t like a player put forward by the recruitment department, then said player will not be packing his bags and heading to Old Trafford.
It is more likely, however, that both coach and director (whoever it may be) will have to accept a collaborative, compromising approach. And that is no bad thing.
For instance, Jurgen Klopp wanted Julian Brandt in 2017, a summer in which others at Liverpool were pushing for Mo Salah. It’s fair to say things worked out pretty well there, and there is no reason why a less manager-driven approach to recruitment – coupled with more expertise behind the scenes – cannot lead to similar success at Old Trafford.
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