Erik ten Hag outlines Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Man Utd transfer plans & defends last summer's approach

A fiery Erik ten Hag hit back at criticism of his transfer spending as Manchester United manager on Friday, and insisted the club have made the correct decisions in the market.

Ten Hag has been the driving force behind most of United’s transfer targets since his appointment as manager in 2022, although he does work in conjunction with others at the club, mainly football director John Murtough.

Under Ten Hag’s guidance United have heavily recruited players with a background in Dutch football, such as Andre Onana, Lisandro Martinez, Tyrell Malacia, Sofyan Amrabat, Christian Eriksen, Mason Mount, Antony and Wout Weghorst - exactly half of the players brought in during Ten Hag’s tenure.

It's unusual for a manager to have such a large influence on a club's transfer policy, and Ineos will certainly bring new ideas and approaches now that Sir Jim Ratcliffe is officially running the show at Old Trafford. Despite that, Ten Hag insisted that United’s new minority shareholder will not sign a player that isn't first approved by the manager.

“Yes I am sure. It’s [under] control,” he said on Friday. “I have had talks with them about it. They will not bring in players who the manager doesn’t want, because that will not work.

“We will work there together, with suggestions, bringing players in and discussing. Then it is about picking the right players, it is about cooperation and togetherness. That is the way they want to work.”

Ten Hag’s transfer record is mixed at best, with Lisandro Martinez and Rasmus Hojlund the only resounding successes so far. The latter, it was announced on Friday, is set to miss the next few weeks with a muscular injury, meaning United are currently without a recognised forward as Anthony Martial is still recovering from a groin operation.

Ten Hag admitted after the January window that he wanted to sign a striker but said his hands were tied due to the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules. It’s an infuriating set of circumstances for United, especially given the team have been starting to build up some momentum in recent weeks.

But with Ten Hag’s underwhelming record in the market, questions have been raised about United’s decision to recruit lavishly over the summer on Andre Onana and Mason Mount, who were signed to replace David de Gea and Fred, while the squad was left with just two centre-forwards: Hojlund and the injury-prone Martial.

“First of all, striker options are the most difficult to fill, especially on our level,” explained Ten Hag. “We had two strikers. I get that from Martial, but he has done great things for us last season.

“He is also on high payment, in this club. So when you bring another one in, you strike him out [of the team]. So there are all arguments not to do it. Then there is Marcus Rashford, who can play very good from the front position. So actually we had three strikers in our squad to fill in.”

When it was suggested to Ten Hag that Martial had been indulged because he is a high earner, an infuriated Ten Hag fired back: “I think it is quite a naive thought you bring up.

“When you have three strikers in your squad and you bring a number four in, that means the prospect of the others will get short [amount of minutes]. So I thought, we thought, we had options, but then it develops during the season.

“I wanted to bring in a striker in the winter, but it was not possible. And similar was already we had our problems with FFP in the summer of course.

“You can’t ignore the facts,” Ten Hag added, when asked if Martial’s persistent injury record makes him unreliable. “I knew that as well. But you do everything to get him fit, to keep him fit. We have given him the opportunities. He played a good game against Everton for instance. 

“But it is too few good performances to contribute to our squad. And we should have expected more, that is the truth. But to bring in another striker, that means you rule him totally out at the start of the season, so I don’t think that is the right decision.”