Erik ten Hag’s replacement: Man Utd make SHOCK move for former manager

Carlo Garganese

• 3 Apr 2024 12:28 BST
• 3 min read

Manchester United are preparing a shock move for Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna, according to TeamTalk.

McKenna has established himself as arguably the most admired young manager in the lower divisions, and he has also been linked to succeeding Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool in recent days.

He guided Ipswich to promotion from League One last season and - despite having virtually the same squad this season - they are currently top of the Championship, on course to seal back-to-back promotions.

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McKenna was part of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s coaching team at Manchester United and TeamTalk report that the Red Devils now want to bring him back to Old Trafford as the main man in the dugout.

If United were to appoint McKenna it would still come as a huge shock given the other bigger names in line for the job such as Roberto De Zerbi and Gareth Southgate.

Current Man Utd manager Erik ten Hag is widely expected to be sacked at the end of the season by new part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe after a disastrous 2023-24 campaign.

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Ten Hag record at Man Utd

Ten Hag joined Man Utd in the summer of 2022 and enjoyed a decent first season as he took the club back into the Champions League, won the League Cup and reached the FA Cup final.

However, the 2023-24 campaign has been a total disaster for Ten Hag. United have lost 11 of their 30 Premier League games and have a goal difference of 0. They face a big struggle to finish in the Champions League places, even with fifth position likely to earn a spot in the tweaked competition.

They went out of the League Cup early but worst of all were humiliated in the Champions League group stages.

Despite being drawn in one of the weaker groups together with Galatasaray and Copenhagen, they finished bottom of the pool as the Danes and Bayern Munich progressed.

United picked up just four points and conceded 15 goals, the most ever by an English team in the groups in the history of the tournament.

Ten Hag has fallen out with a host of players during his time at the club, most notably Cristiano Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho, while there has been scrutiny over his reported bad relationship with Marcus Rashford.