Manchester United remain determined to land Frenkie de Jong , but as the summer transfer window drags on it is worth considering the scenario in which they fail to land their number one transfer target.
Right at the start of the summer Erik ten Hag made it very clear to the United hierarchy that he wanted De Jong. With Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic, Jesse Lingard, Juan Mata and Andreas Perreira all leaving, midfield was a clear priority and the Dutchman wanted to be reunited with the star player from his early years with Ajax.
As United chief executive Richard Arnold made clear in an illuminating conversation with fans in a Cheshire pub, the club were ready to move away from the disastrous transfer policy overseen by Ed Woodward and back their new manager in the transfer market.
"Money is not a consideration on who we want,” Arnold said bluntly. “The manager wants him [De Jong] and they have actually done the work. He's a great player. Is it 100 or 200 [million]? I don't know. Get who you f***ing want.” With Barcelona holding firm and De Jong apparently happy to stay put, United may not be able to get who they “f***ing want”. They may have to compromise. But thankfully for Ten Hag, he might already have signed a viable solution.
Speaking recently about what they would do if De Jong isn’t attainable , Ten Hag said: “We're looking for a player who can play in the holding midfield position, but it has to be the right one. There are not many in that position capable of the level we demand. When we can’t find him, we have to deal with the players in our squad now and we will develop one in that position. We need the right player. We have a list and we will strike the moment the player is available.”
One of the players who will be in United’s squad when they return from their pre-season tour of Australia is Christian Eriksen, who signed a three-year deal with the club last week. The 30-year-old is on a remarkable upward trajectory following a productive spell with Brentford last season and has the ability and versatility to perform the role designed for De Jong at Old Trafford.
Ten Hag is not wedded to a certain tactical system. When he took over at Ajax, he didn’t stick steadfastly to the club’s famous Total Football-inspired 4-3-3 formation. He is a pragmatist. He is malleable and fits his philosophy around what he has to work with. Obviously in this situation he wants to work with De Jong – and he could still wait until September 1 to get him – but once he’s on the training pitch with Eriksen at Carrington he may change his mind.
Ten Hag has seen Eriksen up close in training before. Ajax hosted the Danish midfielder last season while he tried to get fit in the aftermath of his cardiac arrest at Euro 2020. Ten Hag and Eriksen have a mutual appreciation of each other, which was clear in the former Tottenham and Inter Milan player’s comments upon signing.
"I have seen Erik’s work at Ajax and know the level of detail and preparation that he and his staff put into every day,” he said. "It's clear that he is a fantastic coach. Having spoken with him and learned more about his vision and the way he wants the team to play, I am even more excited for the future.”
That future could be the one De Jong was apparently destined for. Although he is primarily known as an attack-minded midfielder – and has 52 goals and 71 assists in 237 Premier League appearances after all – Eriksen is more than capable of starting in a deeper midfield role. At Brentford, he shone in part due to the confidence Thomas Frank had in him: he was afforded a free role which allowed him to drift into space and take the initiative.
Ten Hag’s comments about how to get the best out of De Jong may offer a clue to how Eriksen could be used next season, if Barcelona do not let the midfielder leave.
“The players’ qualities determine how you play,” Ten Hag said in July 2019. “Take Frenkie de Jong. We have really been looking to find ways to use his skills in the best manner. Where can he play best, for the team and to showcase his talent. Everyone was screaming: Frenkie is the biggest talent, etc etc. Well yes. But, where? In midfield? OK, but which role? His quality is that he makes the forwards perform better.
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“He is a wanderer, an adventurer, he’s always on the move, like a shark. With the ball, often, but also without the ball. So if you put him at [number] 6, he’s away too often.
“But you need to give him freedom, otherwise you can’t get the best out of him. It wasn’t an easy puzzle, so I decided to play with two number 6s and only one attacking-mid. And in this way, we can also dominate the half space, and force opponents to choose.”
In short: if the player is good enough, the position is of secondary concern. If United do not recruit a world-class midfielder in the remainder of the transfer window, then Eriksen will assume that status.
Fred and Scott McTominay are not the kind of players Ten Hag wants to be receiving the ball from defence and launching attacks. Eriksen, on the other hand, has the range to fulfil the role. If the drawn-out pursuit of De Jong ends in disappointment, then Eriksen would be a more than acceptable replacement.
