Manchester United chief executive Omar Berrada has insisted Erik ten Hag has his and the club’s full backing and remains the right man to take the club forward.
United triggered a one-year contract extension for Ten Hag in the summer, but only after considering alternatives in the wake of an eighth-placed finish in the Premier League and unexpected FA Cup success, beating Manchester City in the final.
But there were fresh questions over the amount of progress United have made under Ten Hag following Sunday’s poor 3-0 home defeat to Liverpool, already United’s second league defeat of the fledgling campaign after they lost 2-1 at Brighton the previous weekend.
Gloom has fallen back over the club, summed up by the sight of billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, in control of football operations at the club, with his head in his hands during Sunday’s loss.
Reports in the UK media claim that Thomas Tuchel will be United’s first-choice managerial target should Ten Hag be dismissed.
Ratcliffe and Tuchel held talks over the summer before the decision was made to stick by Ten Hag. The former Chelsea and Bayern Munich boss reportedly remains of interest and, importantly, out of work.
Another name regularly in the frame is Gareth Southgate. Ratcliffe is understood to be a big fan of the former England manager, who has not held a club job since leaving Middlesbrough over 15 years ago.
Southgate is the bookmakers’ favourite, with current assistant Ruud van Nistelrooy and former assistant Kieran McKenna, now at Ipswich, not far behind in the market.
Erik ten Hag disagrees when asked why his players keep making the same mistakes
However, speaking alongside new sporting director Dan Ashworth shortly before kick-off against Liverpool, Berrada said it would take more than a couple of bad results to shake the club’s belief in their manager.
“Do we still believe in Erik? Absolutely,” he said. “We think Erik is the right coach for us and we’re fully backing him.”
Ten Hag’s contract was extended before either Berrada or Ashworth had taken up their positions this summer, but both said they were happy with the decision. Ashworth said: “I’ve really enjoyed working with Erik for the last eight weeks.
“I see my job is to support him in every way I possibly can and whether that’s operationally, whether that’s with recruitment, whether that’s with medical, whether that’s with psychology, whether that’s training ground flow, it’s just to take as much of that off him to allow him to fully focus on the training pitch and the match tactical plan to deliver success for Manchester United.”
The United boss has now been in the job two years, having mostly had significant control of transfers.
Ashworth’s first few weeks in the job were dominated by the transfer window, in which United signed Matthijs De Ligt, Manuel Ugarte, Joshua Zirkzee, Leny Yoro, and Noussair Mazraoui.
But just as notable were the departures of players including Scott McTominay and Jadon Sancho.
After a falling out with Ten Hag early last season Sancho returned to former club Borussia Dortmund on loan in January.
The pair appeared to have made up as Sancho took part in United’s pre-season and played in the Community Shield, but on deadline day he joined Chelsea on loan with an obligation to buy.
Asked what had changed, Ashworth said it had been down to the player’s wish to move on. “We felt we had enough depth in that particular position to be able to cover it, we’ve got four really good wide players – Jadon was a fifth – and it just enabled us to make that decision that if it was good for him and good for us it was something we were willing to consider,” Ashworth said.
“He wanted to explore the opportunity at Chelsea, like Scott wanted to explore the opportunity at Napoli, like Aaron [Wan-Bissaka] wanted to explore the opportunity at West Ham. We’re not in a position where we’re kicking players out of the club.”
McTominay’s move to Napoli saw the Scot end a two-decade long association with United after coming through the club’s academy from an early age.
Ten Hag expressed his regret at losing the midfielder, but it is a reality of the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR) that selling homegrown players is hugely beneficial on the accounting side.
Ashworth said that was an “unintended consequence” of the rules but added that McTominay had wanted to go.
“Scott’s been fairly open that maybe he needed a change,” Ashworth said. “He’s been in Manchester United for 21 years, I think. He’s been a brilliant, brilliant servant.
