Erik ten Hag reportedly wants to put an end to Manchester United 's calamitous contract policy.
The Red Devils boss, who took the reins at Old Trafford less than five months ago, has demanded that the club's board refuse to hand out any new deals until he identifies who warrants them. In recent years, previous managers such as Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer have had contract decisions taken out of their hands.
It's left United with a bloated squad, weighed down by unwanted players sitting on eye-watering deals and unwilling to give up their fat wage packets by joining new clubs But there'll be no more of that if Ten Hag gets his way, as the Telegraph claim that the 52-year-old wants to use the next six weeks before the World Cup to determine who's up for the task of bringing the glory days back to Old Trafford.
However, Ten Hag's stance leaves eight players in limbo over their futures. Those include regular first-teamers Cristiano Ronaldo, David De Gea, Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw, Fred and Diogo Dalot, who're all out of contract next summer but already have options to extend their stays until June 2024.
Backups Phil Jones and Tom Heaton are in the same boat, unlike academy graduate Axel Tuanzebe, whose last senior appearance for the Red Devils came in May 2021. Those eight will now await Ten Hag's decision, with the Dutch coach set to be ruthless when it comes to who stays and who goes.
"He's still in that phase of 'Let's see how people are, let's see what they are up to," a source told the Telegraph. "How they adjust, how they handle pressure, how they handle not being picked, how they deal with different challenges. He's still understanding them and over the next month or so he'll start getting clarity in his head."
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Ten Hag has already decided that he won't stand in Ronaldo's way if he finds a route out of Old Trafford in January. It's added in the report that the 37-year-old still wants to leave the club, having failed to secure a departure during the summer transfer window.
The United manager left Ronaldo on the bench for the entirety of Sunday's 6-3 derby humiliation at the hands of bitter rivals Manchester City and had a clear reason why. "I wouldn't bring him in because out of respect for Cristiano, for his big career," Ten Hag explained. "And the other thing was the advantage I could bring on Anthony Martial, he needs the minutes but I don't want to point it out like that."
Martial repaid his boss' faith with two goals, although they were ultimately consolation strikes after hat-tricks from City duo Erling Haaland and Phil Foden did the damage. Ten Hag and co next face Omonia Nicosia on Thursday, travelling to Cyprus looking to make it back-to-back wins in the Europa League.
