'Man Utd have sold Ten Hag a dummy'

Karan Tejwani

• 15 Aug 2022 08:51 CDT
• 3 min read

Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has claimed the club have duped Erik ten Hag, and that he’s been “sold a dummy” in his early months at the club.

Ten Hag joined the club in April, officially beginning work in May, and has only been able to complete three signings – Lisandro Martinez, Tyrell Malacia and Christian Eriksen, who signed on a free transfer.

The club have spent much of the summer chasing Frenkie de Jong, and have also been hampered by Cristiano Ronaldo’s public desire to leave Old Trafford.

The problems were reflected on the pitch, as Manchester United lost their opening two league games against Brighton and Brentford 2-1 and 4-0 respectively.

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Rio Ferdinand feels sorry for Ten Hag

Ferdinand has weighed in on the situation on his podcast, Vibe With Five, saying that he feels for Ten Hag and that he’s been dealt a bad hand by his bosses in his first few months at the club.

"I don't feel sorry for the players, I feel sorry for Ten Hag. He's coming under false pretences. He's coming expected new signings.”

Ferdinand added to it, believing that Ten Hag didn’t know what he signed up for:

"He's probably sitting there thinking, 'I've been sold a dummy here. I didn't know I was coming into this'.”

"This is an indefensible situation right now because it's so bad, it's terrible. I mean, we're only two games in, but we're two games in on the back of what happened last season as well by the way,” the Englishman added.

Matters won’t get easier for Ten Hag as they welcome Liverpool to Old Trafford next, with last season’s results – 5-0 and 4-0 wins for Jurgen Klopp’s side – still fresh in the memory.

The Red Devils are hoping to complete a few deals between now and the end of the transfer window, including that of Adrien Rabiot and there is still hope for De Jong, a forward and a right-back.