Why would De Jong or anyone else want to join rotten Man Utd?
FT Desk
- 15 Aug 2022 15:10 BST
- 3 min read
Manchester United still have lofty ambitions in the transfer market, but they need to sort out the poisonous atmosphere around the club in order to compete.
Any optimism the Red Devils may have had going into the 2022-23 season has evaporated in the space of 180 minutes following two bruising defeats to kick off their Premier League campaign.
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Erik ten Hag was highly coveted at Old Trafford while at Ajax, but so far he has been unable to stop the rot and is reportedly growing more and more frustrated with the club's failure to deliver his desired transfer targets.
Frenkie de Jong for one has been a target for the Dutchman since the very start of the transfer window but so far has refused to consider a move to United.
The midfielder's stance may well change due to Barcelona's recent hardline treatment regarding his contract, but it is clear that the Red Devils are far from his first choice.
And that is hardly surprising, given the shambolic situation at the Premier League giants right now.
United's position even weaker
According to CBS journalist Ben Jacobs, United's hopes of landing De Jong or other elite players are rapidly diminishing.
"Off the back of the defeats to Brighton and Brentford, Manchester United are in an even weaker position to pitch to players late in the window," Jacobs stated.
Why would Frenkie de Jong want to join Man Utd?
Why would any player?@jacobsben of @cbssportsgolazo on a club who are "rotten at the foundational core" 😳 pic.twitter.com/c1ltUXMakV— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) August 15, 2022
"Because every single player will be asking the same question: am I walking into a divided dressing room, is Cristiano Ronaldo going to stay, is Erik ten Hag going to last, and is this football club going to improve or walk around in circles?
"The pitch from Manchester United is supposed to be, we've got an exciting manager, in a new era with a dressing room that is hungry and unified and we're heading towards Champions League football.
"It's a lot harder to make that argument to a player when you're bottom of the Premier League and everything possible at the football club is going wrong.
"It's bordering on a shambles now, because you can make arguments why any one manager hasn't worked out at Manchester United, but you cannot keep saying the same things over and over again... my personal view is that United are rotten at their foundational core, which means that any manager walking in now has a recipe for disaster."
