Winners and losers of Erik ten Hag's new contract at Man Utd

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 4 Jul 2024 11:17 BST
• 4 min read

Now it is official. Erik ten Hag will be staying as Manchester United manager for the 2024-25 season.

Ten Hag had been expected to be sacked after a generally miserable 2023-24 campaign but Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the Man Utd directors decided to retain the Dutchman. He may even get a new contract.

On Thursday it was announced by Manchester United that Ten Hag's contract had been extended until 2026.

FootballTransfers picks out who will win and lose from this decision.

Winners: Youngsters

If there is one positive from the past year or so, it has been Ten Hag’s success at developing a number of promising youngsters.

Two youngsters stand out especially in Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo, who have emerged under the Dutch boss. Ten Hag staying is a big plus for them, as well as other youngsters at the club such as Rasmus Hojlund.

Winners: Eredivisie players

Ten Hag has regularly shopped in the Dutch market since taking over at Man Utd two years ago. Some of these have proven an abject failure - such as Antony - but it has not stopped Ten Hag from continuing to buy players with links to the Eredivisie.

This will now continue, whilst current Man Utd players such as Andre Onana and Lisandro Martinez will feel their positions are stronger under Ten Hag.

Winner: Rest of Premier League

This may be harsh but the general feeling from fans at rival clubs is one of happiness that Ten Hag is staying.

Despite winning an FA Cup and League Cup in his two years at Old Trafford, Ten Hag has fallen well short of challenging the best of England in the Premier League and the best of Europe.

Can Ten Hag suddenly turn around this trend? It will be up to him to prove the doubters wrong.

Loser: Jadon Sancho

If there was ever any doubt before, there is certainly none now. Jadon Sancho’s Man Utd career is over.

The confirmation of Ten Hag for the 2024-25 season means that Sancho will never play for Man Utd again.

Sancho and Ten Hag fell out publicly last season, leading to the winger being loaned out to Borussia Dortmund. United will now try to sell him permanently.

Loser: Gareth Southgate

Gareth Southgate had been the favourite to replace Ten Hag this summer, and the feeling among many was that he would make the move after Euro 2024.

Southgate has admitted that if England don’t win Euro 2024 he will likely no longer be manager after the finals. This only further fuelled the rumours.

Ten Hag’s confirmation has put those chances to bed.

Loser: Sir Jim Ratcliffe

Sir Jim Ratcliffe arrived as the club’s new minority shareholder amidst a blaze of excitement at the start of the year.

It was felt he would revolutionise Man Utd and bring back the glory days.

And while he has made some important structural changes in the club’s upper management, the retaining of Ten Hag does not represent a break from the failure of recent years.

United needed to hire a new exciting manager to bring hope to the fans again.

Furthermore, Ratcliffe has come out of all this looking indecisive. He spent far too long reviewing Ten Hag’s future and spoke to other candidates - hardly a ringing endorsement of the Dutch manager.

We are also now at the start of July and United are already playing catch-up in the transfer market.