Ten Hag lists just THREE transfer successes at Man Utd

Stuart Telford

• 13 Apr 2024 15:30 BST
• 4 min read

Erik ten Hag has defended his recruitment record at Manchester United as the club awaits input from the new Sir Jim Ratcliffe-led hierarchy.

The coming summer transfer window will be the first in which Ratcliffe will flex his power, with a new strategy in store.

It is understood the INEOS chief wants to find the next Kylian Mbappe rather than buy the finished product, and Ten Hag will have to adapt - if indeed he is still in place.

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Reports suggest that Ratcliffe is interested in appointing Graham Potter as manager, but the Ten Hag remains in situ, and he has set about defending his transfer record.

"You see now, with our recruitment, that Andre Onana is doing very well. Rasmus Hojlund, everyone is seeing his big talent and potential. You can see we're doing quite good.

Lisandro Martinez - everyone was hugely happy with him, and there are others. So recruitment is good…"

For every Hojliund…

United have signed 16 players since Ten Hag was appointed manager in 2022, and for the Dutchman to only pick out three in defence of his record is laughable.

Onana and Hojlund have found form after difficult starts, and Martinez was their best defender before injury, but even their successes have been debatable for a combined €180 million outlay.

Antony has cost the most of all Ten Hag-backed arrivals at €95m and has contributed just a single assist in 25 Premier League outings this season. Mason Mount has been injured since he arrived and the less said about Wout Weghorst, now of Hoffenheim, the better.

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Ten Hag, perhaps mercifully, is open to INEOS' input.

"If they have even better ideas, we're always open and always you have to judge. If you have options, but they come with better options, we are open.

"They have to fill us in. But we have a way we want to play, so we know our profiles and it has to match the profiles we want."