Manchester United are beginning to make some progress in the summer transfer window, with Erik ten Hag getting the players he wants before jetting off on a pre-season tour.
While only one player has officially been announced, the wheels are very much in motion at Old Trafford. United are hoping to undergo a rejuvenation with Ten Hag leading the way and have thrown their considerable weight behind their new manager.
Chief executive Richard Arnold summed up the club’s approach this summer in a blunt and honest conversation with fans at a Cheshire pub last month: “Get some f***ing players in. Money’s there, OK? Get on with it John [Murtough]. Money is not a consideration on who we want.”
Money might not be a consideration, despite Arnold’s admission that “we haven’t spent money well historically”, but there are other principles the club are following in a bid to turn their fortunes around. The main one, as far as the transfer policy is concerned, seems to be: give Ten Hag what he wants.
Tyrell Malacia became the first arrival of the Ten Hag era when his transfer from Feyenoord was announced on Tuesday . He is the first, but he won’t be the last, with Manchester Evening News reporting that United hope to wrap up five transfers by the end of their pre-season tours of Thailand and Australia.
Malacia and the other names who are currently in the frame all have something in common: an affiliation with Ten Hag himself, or the Eredivisie. Malacia has not played under the Dutchman before, but is well-known to him from his time in the Netherlands.
Meanwhile, Ten Hag is targeting three of his former Ajax players – current stars Antony and Lisandro Martinez – and Barcelona ’s Frenkie de Jong . Another potential arrival , Christian Eriksen, began his career with Ajax and trained at the club last year, in close proximity to Ten Hag, while trying to get fit before joining Brentford on a short-term contract.
Even if all of those targets do not arrive at Old Trafford this summer, it is clear that Arnold and Murtough have been willing to pin all their hopes on Ten Hag, rather than their own scouting department. After the miserable failures of the Ed Woodward recruitment era that is understandable, but it does have its own worrying history at United.
Backing the manager is generally considered to be a positive thing. The argument goes that he is the most influential person at the club, he trains the players, imposes the tactics and picks the team, therefore he should guide the transfers too. However, siding with the manager's knowledge, rather than the recruitment team's data, has not always worked.
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When Sir Alex Ferguson retired in May 2013 he implored everybody associated with the club to get behind David Moyes. His successor lasted just 10 months and his transfer plans became inextricably linked to Marouane Fellaini – a player he insisted be recruited from his former club, Everton.
Next came Louis van Gaal. He also signed players he knew well in Daley Blind, Memphis Depay and Bastian Schweinsteiger with little success. Van Gaal’s successor, Jose Mourinho, followed a similar path in recruiting his Chelsea favourite Nemanja Matic.
Like every United fan, CEO Arnold is well aware of the club’s failings in the transfer market over the past decade. “We spent a billion pounds on players,” he told supporters last month. “We have spent more than anyone in Europe. I’m not thrilled where we are. It doesn’t sit easy with me and I worry how we get this sorted for the future. What’s happened is we have f***ing burned through cash.” Arnold is now hoping that, by backing Ten Hag, he is making the right call to bring an end to a decade of wastefulness, but history suggests that it will be far from plain sailing.
