Manchester United are chasing a new centre back addition this summer and that could see Erik ten Hag reunite with one of his former players.
The decision to keep Erik ten Hag in the Old Trafford dugout has been confirmed and the Dutchman is staying put after all.
Last season was far from ideal for Manchester United but Ineos will now be looking to drag the club forward – both on and off the pitch.
A new recruitment team is in place and United are expected to operate with a much more coherent plan in the transfer market.
United may still look to sign one of Ten Hag’s former players though, which has been a recurring theme in recent years.
Lisandro Martinez and Antony followed Ten Hag from Ajax to United in 2022 before Andre Onana and Sofyan Amrabat reunited with the Dutchman last summer.
Erik ten Hag pushes for Matthijs de Ligt deal
The latest player who could join forces with Ten Hag once again is Matthijs de Ligt.
United continue to have major question marks in the heart of defence and Bayern Munich’s De Ligt has become a top target.
Reports suggest that United are ‘surprised’ to hear that Bayern are willing to sell De Ligt, with a £42million deal in the pipeline.
Ten Hag coached De Ligt at Ajax and they famously reached the Champions League semi-finals together in 2019.
A reunion certainly make sense and Ten Hag has now shared his plans with De Ligt in an attempt to get a deal done.
The Mirror claim that Ten Hag has told De Ligt of his plans to play him alongside Lisandro Martinez at centre back with United.
Ten Hag allegedly plans to play a 4-3-3 system moving forward with De Ligt forming a key part of the back line.
United often play in a 4-2-3-1 under Ten Hag but even went with a striker-less system towards the end of the season.
That change would see Bruno Fernandes dropping a little deeper but still having the freedom to make a real impact going forward.
United are now described as being ‘confident’ of signing De Ligt with Ten Hag’s charm offensive seemingly leaving the deal in a strong position.
- READ MORE: Manchester United confirmed signings, transfers in, out, loan exits, releases for 2024/25
4-3-3 showed mixed results last season
The 4-3-3 formation is the classic setup in Dutch football, synonymous with the likes of Rinus Michels and Johan Cruyff.
Ten Hag seemingly wants to focus on that system moving forward at United and we did actually see it in the first few weeks of last season.
Casemiro was deployed as a holding midfield player with Mason Mount and Bruno Fernandes further ahead of the Brazilian.
It’s fair to say that the results were mixed; United were far too easy to play through in midfield and the experiment was fairly quickly abandoned.
Ten Hag may ideally want to play that way moving forward but Casemiro’s decline last season left United too exposed.
Bringing in a new holding midfielder – such as Manuel Ugarte – may allow United to play that way on a more regular basis with Kobbie Mainoo and Bruno Fernandes further forward.
A solid centre back pairing of De Ligt and Martinez would help too, so we could see United commit to 4-3-3 moving forward – and Ten Hag will be hoping that this is the magic formula for United.
Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox
