Ten Hag pressuring Man Utd board to get Rabiot deal done
Karan Tejwani
- 13 Aug 2022 10:36 BST
- 3 min read
Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag is pushing for his club to get a deal over the line for Juventus midfielder Adrien Rabiot in the final weeks of the transfer window.
The Dutchman believes the United squad is currently too thin to compete in multiple competitions, and that injury problems could affect his side severely.
Manchester United lost the likes of Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard and Juan Mata over the summer, and midfield options are limited, forcing the club to look into the market.
The Red Devils have long been in pursuit of Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong, chasing him since May, but no deal has yet been completed.
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As a result, they’ve had to look at other options to accommodate into their team, with the Juventus midfielder targeted next and a fee of around £15 million earmarked for the Frenchman.
Ten Hag spoke about the club’s recruitment this summer: “We cooperate well and it is to my satisfaction, and, of course, it was better to get players in earlier because then you get earlier in the process.”
“And now in the department of the midfield and defence, you can see that with one injury, we will have a problem. That’s clear,” he added.
There is also a shortage in attack, as Anthony Martial is suffering from injury issues, leaving Cristiano Ronaldo as the only attacking option at the minute.
John Murtough leaves Turin after his meeting with Veronique Rabiot #mulive [@GiovaAlbanese] pic.twitter.com/TVOCLZg7q5
— utdreport (@utdreport) August 12, 2022
Manchester United have been linked with moves for Marko Arnautovic, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Sasa Kaladjzic in recent weeks, but nothing concrete has come about yet.
United are competing in four different competitions this season and the squad is severely depleted, which may force them to use some of their youth squad if they don’t sign players by the end of the window.
The likes of Alejandro Garnacho, James Garner, Hannibal Mejbri, Charlie Savage and Zidane Iqbal have all impressed in recent weeks, but it’s unclear if they’re ready for first-team action on a consistent basis.
Other than that, Amad Diallo and Facundo Pellistri haven’t exactly proven themselves at this level either and would require more experience.
