A new update has emerged regarding Erik ten Hag’s future as Manchester United manager, courtesy of journalist Dean Jones.
Erik ten Hag under pressure
The Dutchman is only in his second season at Old Trafford, but having impressed first time around, finishing third in the Premier League and winning the EFL Cup, the current campaign has been more of a struggle.
In fairness to Ten Hag, he has been hit with a string of injury problems in his squad, but equally, some performances and results have been well short of what is expected. For that reason, some reports in recent months have claimed that the 53-year-old is under pressure to keep his job as United manager, should things not improve moving forward.
Now, a new update has dropped – one that discusses potential replacements for the Red Devils boss.
Update on Ten Hag’s Man Utd future under Ratcliffe
Speaking to Give Me Sport, Jones admitted that Manchester United could look to replace Ten Hag with Julen Lopetegui in the future when Sir Jim Ratcliffe has a 25% share of the club, rather than former Chelsea boss Graham Potter. Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi also gets a mention, although at this moment in time, “Ten Hag will be the man that leads the Ratcliffe era at Manchester United”.
“My reading of this situation, based on what I have been told by people pretty well-connected to it, is that Ten Hag will be the man that leads the Ratcliffe era at Manchester United, but the tolerance levels around poor performances and results are going to change. Basically, he will be judged on what we see and if it’s not good enough, then they will be more ruthless about sacking him than the Glazers probably would have been.
“With that in mind, it’s conceivable that Ten Hag loses his job before the end of the season, but there really isn’t much more clarity than that right now. The evidence we have in front of us shows that United remain a long way short of the expectation levels of the fanbase and so, of course, there will be considerations around who would come in if Ten Hag goes.
“My personal information has been that Lopetegui and maybe even Roberto De Zerbi would be stronger contenders than Potter and I have to admit I have extreme reservations about Potter being able to handle life at Old Trafford based on what we saw from him at Chelsea.”
Man Utd’s last 10 permanent managers | Year |
|---|---|
Erik ten Hag | 2022-present |
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer | 2018-2021 |
Jose Mourinho | 2016-2018 |
Louis van Gaal | 2014-2016 |
David Moyes | 2013-2014 |
Alex Ferguson | 1986-2013 |
Ron Atkinson | 1981-1986 |
Dave Sexton | 1977-1981 |
Tommy Docherty | 1972-1977 |
Frank O’Farrell | 1971-1972 |
It does seem as though Ten Hag still has the support of those high up at the club, but there is also no question that he will find himself at the point of no return if United’s inconsistency continues for the remainder of the season, leading to them missing out of a place in next season’s Champions League.
The next few months feel important, but should he be relieved of his duties, there is no guarantee that someone like Lopetegui would come in and be a roaring success. Until off-field issues surrounding the Glazers and the eventual takeover of the club are sorted, the longer every manager could end up struggling at Old Trafford.
