8 players that fell out with Erik ten Hag | OneFootball

Highlights

Keeping a respectable relationship with every member of your squad must be an onerous task. The day-to-day running of a football club can grate down on the calmest of characters. Erik ten Hag is well aware of this notion given that, at both Manchester United and Ajax, he has had his fair share of disagreements and fall-outs – for an array of reasons.

From the Dutchman’s stubbornness to a player’s unwillingness to apologise over bad behaviour, the 53-year-old has endured a tumultuous career in his respective dugouts. Of course, he has been successful – particularly in the Netherlands – but he’s never been too far from another player-manager dispute.

With the gaffer known for his brash nature and his confrontational manner, numerous players in the past have found themselves on the wrong side of the former Ajax custodian, and it usually concludes with them parting ways with the club he is - at that point- in charge of. It’s that simple.

Here at GIVEMESPORT, we’ve rummaged through the archives and picked out eight players that Ten Hag has fallen out with during his managerial career. From the high-profile members of the Old Trafford squad to the lesser-known stars at Ajax – let’s get stuck in.

Zidane Iqbal

Date of fall out: 2023/24 pre-season

Having arrived at Old Trafford in the summer of 2022, Ten Hag wasted no time falling out with his first United player, as he clashed with Zidane Iqbal. The highly-rated prospect had been teetering on the edge of the first team for a while and had even made his debut in the Champions League the season before the Dutchman took charge of the club. The future seemed bright for the youngster, and it felt inevitable that he'd play a significant role for the Red Devils going forward.

That's not quite how things went, though, and immediately, things turned sour between Iqbal and the coach. In one of his first training sessions as United manager, Ten Hag blasted the youngster, saying: "Keep the ball on the floor! Zidane! Hey! Keep the ball on the floor. F*cking rubbish!" Clearly unimpressed, the now 20-year-old didn't play a single minute for the club again and was sold for next to nothing to Utrecht in the Eredivisie last summer.

Noa Lang

Date of fall out: 2019

Despite bursting onto the scene at Ajax and starting really promisingly in the club's first team, Noa Lang was gone almost as quickly as he arrived, and it was largely down to a spat with Ten Hag. Although he scored on his debut and netted a hat-trick in his first league start for the club, the first man to do so in 60 years, the youngster rubbed his manager the wrong way and was determined to have had a serious attitude problem. The pair had a big falling out that was sparked by an argument mid-game, which can be viewed in full below.

He was subsequently loaned out to FC Twente and Club Brugge before he joined the Belgian side on a permanent deal. After impressing in the Belgian Pro League, he made his way back to the Netherlands this summer when he joined PSV Eindhoven. A player with huge promise, it's interesting to ponder what could have been if he hadn't fallen out with Ten Hag. Lang, speaking about his relationship with his compatriot, has since insisted that he would never like to speak to him again.

Anthony Martial

Date of fall out: January 2024

Anthony Martial became the world's most expensive teenager when he put pen to paper on his Old Trafford contract in 2016, one that cost £36 million. The Frenchman, however, has largely flattered to deceive – and this campaign is no different. Not only for Ten Hag, but he has long been an unreliable figure thanks to his long list of injuries.

In 2023/24, the forward was ushered into the Dutch tactician’s bad books after being exiled from first team training. Martial suffered from a sickness bug last month and, at the time of writing, has not featured in over a month – and that’s not expected to change any time soon.

After a four-game period of illness, the Frenchman struggled to return to match fitness and Ten Hag was clearly unimpressed with the 28-year-old and, therefore, has forced the former Monaco star to train in isolation, away from the rest of the Red Devils squad. Despite not being injured, the Frenchman being made to train alone is a damning indictment of Ten Hag’s impression of him.

Amin Younes

Date of fall out: 2018

Ten Hag's time at Ajax is looked back on fondly and the overarching narrative is about just how well-loved he was in the team. It seems, though, that he had fairly tumultuous relationships with more than one player during his time there. Amin Younes had played a fairly large role at Ajax for two-and-a-half years by the time he had a big falling out with the manager, and it killed his career with the team.

In 2018, Younes refused to come on as a substitute in Ajax’s 4-1 win against SC Heerenveen. Ten Hag kicked him out of the squad for two weeks & made him train with Jong Ajax.

After his boss tried to substitute the German into the game in the latter stages of a 4-1 win over Heerenveen in March 2018, he refused to come on, simply staying put on the bench and that was that. Younes never played for Ajax again, was forced to train with the reserves for the remainder of the season and was sold to Napoli months later.

Andre Onana

Date of fall out: April 2022

This spat goes to show that at least Ten Hag is capable of letting bygones be bygones. After a wonderful time working together at Ajax, the manager had a big falling out with Andre Onana towards the end of the goalkeeper's time in Holland. After a lengthy ban, the shot-stopper returned to the side but had made it pretty clear he wanted out of the club.

What followed was a series of lacklustre performances in which his heart clearly wasn't in it. A poor mistake that saw the current United man booed off by his own fans led to him revealing he didn't care and his relationship with Ten Hag took a hit. He was dropped towards the end of the campaign and never played for Ajax again. Time apparently heals all wounds, though, and they're clearly on better terms now, with the manager bringing Onana to Old Trafford last summer.

Jadon Sancho

Date of fall out: September 2023

One of the latest names to butt heads with Ten Hag, Jadon Sancho's time in England hasn't exactly been smooth sailing since he joined United from Dortmund in 2021. He has failed to show the level of talent he demonstrated in Germany, and it's led to his position in the side being under question. The boss dropped him from the team entirely against Arsenal in early September 2023 and when asked about it, he claimed he didn't like what he'd seen from the Englishman in training and that was the deciding factor in his decision to remove him.

Sancho quickly spoke out on social media denying he'd been anything other than exemplary during training and claiming he felt he'd been made a scapegoat at United for quite some time. The pair failed to come to a resolution and the former Manchester City prospect returned to Borussia Dortmund on loan in January 2023. Whether the fleet-footed winger will return and, once again, don the Manchester United strip remains unknown but will be answered this summer.

Marcus Rashford

Date of fall out: December 2022

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Even players in the form of their lives aren't immune to falling out with Ten Hag, who dropped Marcus Rashford from the United squad for a game against Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2022/23 due to the forward's punctuality. After the English star was late to a pre-game meeting, he was swiftly removed from the matchday squad that faced the midlands side. It was a bold move considering he was in the form of his life at that point.

Fortunately, the pair quickly put the moment behind them and are clearly on much better terms right now. Rashford finished the season with his career-best goals return with 30 in all competitions. The Wythenshawe-born ace has struggled to carry the goalscoring burden in 2023/24 and has endured spells on the bench - which shows that Ten Hag may still not be quite sold on Rashford's ability to perform on a consistent basis.

Cristiano Ronaldo

Date of fall out: November 2022

The most high-profile fallout in Ten Hag's career so far came when his relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo turned sour. The Red Devils legend returned to the club in 2021 and had a strong first season back in England, but once the former Ajax man took charge of the side, things went downhill pretty quickly.

Clearly unconvinced with the Portuguese icon, Ten Hag saw a future without Ronaldo at United and severely reduced his playing time at the club. Despite scoring 24 goals in his first campaign back, the now 38-year-old played just 16 times for the Red Devils in the first half of last season, largely coming off the bench, and he - as expected - didn't like it one bit.

Having twice refused to come on as a substitute, the Los Blancos cult hero conducted an interview on television with Piers Morgan where he publicly criticised Ten Hag and revealed he didn't respect him at all. The move ruined any chance of the two parties ever really being on the same page again and the former Real Madrid man quickly saw his contract being terminated, and he subsequently joined Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia.