INEOS planning to shift away from Erik ten Hag’s ploy of signing Eredivisie players | OneFootball

INEOS planning to shift away from Erik ten Hag’s ploy of signing Eredivisie players | OneFootball

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The Peoples Person

·29 January 2024

INEOS planning to shift away from Erik ten Hag’s ploy of signing Eredivisie players

Article image:INEOS planning to shift away from Erik ten Hag’s ploy of signing Eredivisie players

Despite the obvious need to strengthen, Manchester United have been quiet this January transfer window due to FFP concerns.

Their previous transfer mistakes are currently haunting the club and this culture is badly in need of a revamp when INEOS take over.


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Manager Erik ten Hag has overseen three windows so far, bringing in players from the Eredivisie, a league he knows well but the ploy has not worked.

Eredivisie signings have not worked

In his first window, in came Tyrell Malacia, Lisandro Martinez and Antony while in the winter, the Dutchman brought in Wout Weghorst on loan.

Last summer, the former Ajax coach decided to replace David de Gea with Andre Onana while bringing in Sofyan Amrabat as an alternative for Casemiro.

It is safe to say that with the exception of Lisandro Martinez, none of the players can be termed a success.

Antony has been termed as one of the worst-ever signings by the club with United massively overpaying for the winger while Weghorst’s loan was never made permanent. Amrabat is heading in the same direction.

United have spent over £400 million to bring in the players the manager wants with most players have ties with SEG agency, something that has bothered a lot of people.

Behind-the-scene changes are taking place now that Sir Jim Ratcliffe is set to assume sporting control once his minority stake offer gets ratified.

Behind-the-scene changes

A new CEO is already in place and a football director and head of recruitment is the next step in streamlining proceedings.

The manager will not have as much control anymore with INEOS’ vision based on bringing in young and ambitious players instead of throwing money at Eredivisie stars who are not well suited to thrive in the Premier League.

With Ten Hag looking at bringing in Brian Brobbey from Ajax in the next window, there have already been murmurs of a possible clash waiting to happen between Ratcliffe and Ten Hag.

As talkSPORT reporter Alex Crook revealed to Givemesport, the British petrochemicals giant will no longer adhere to the manager’s vision and have their own plans.

Which means Brobbey will not be coming to Old Trafford any time soon.

“I think they will avoid that type of signing [Brobbey]. They’ve been there with ten Hag and his agent.

New transfer direction

“The players they’ve taken out of the Netherlands haven’t worked out. So, I think the recruitment we’ll see from Man Utd moving forward will be completely different.”

If United’s form does not improve in the second half of the campaign, there is a good chance Ten Hag might not remain in the hot seat for much longer.

A number of candidates have already been sounded out including Graham Potter, Roberto De Zerbi, Francesco Farioli, and surprisingly Thomas Tuchel.

The British billionaire is desperate to kick-off his regime with the team in Europe. That does not look likely at present.

United barely scraped past Newport County in the FA Cup fourth round and that seems to be the best chance for the club to win silverware and qualify for Europe.

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