Manchester United has been advised to take at least six transfers during the summer window in order to give Erik ten Hag a fighting chance. Ten Hag is ready to take over at Old Trafford after leading Ajax’s now-former club to their third Eredivisie title in four seasons.
Ten Hag, 52, will not arrive in Manchester this week, but he has begun to make plans. On his to-do list is to launch another recruitment drive as the Premier League giants prepare to rebuild with high-profile incomings and a roster that might number in the double digits.
Former United player Gordon Hill stated in his recent Talk of the Devils column: “There was a lot of hope at the start of this season, which feels like a long time ago, about what could be required to move from second place. It’s becoming evident that it’s not about fine-tuning.
“What appeared to be solid squad possibilities at the outset of the season now appears to be a lot of driftwood that Ten Hag acquired. I’ll be straight with you. Based on this season’s results, United requires at least six players, and this [rebuild] may require more if we are to compete for cup finals and league titles.”
Hill went on: “Under Ralf Rangnick, you can argue that almost every player at the club has now been tried and tested – everyone who thinks they haven’t got a chance had theirs a long time ago. His games have been used to determine who can and cannot perform, as well as who will and will not perform.
“We can safely conclude that things haven’t gone well under Rangnick, but one thing we can take away from it is that it’s now a lot easier to identify the players whose contracts are about to expire – on top of the ones whose contracts are about to expire anyhow. And that figure roughly corresponds to the number of players we need to bring in this summer.”
