New Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag is prepared to give Donny van de Beek an opportunity to save his Old Trafford career
The Dutchman is set to be named the Red Devils' new manager after the players were told of his imminent appointment in the wake of their humbling defeat by Liverpool. Mirror Football exclusively revealed there will be a major clearout under the 52-year-old with up to as many as 12 players leaving Old Trafford in the summer.
Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic, Jesse Lingard, Edinson Cavani, Juan Mata and Lee Grant are all set to leave as free agents while at least six other players including Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Eric Bailly, Phil Jones, Alex Telles, Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford – could join them to allow Ten Hag to begin his overhaul with Ralf Rangnick suggesting there will be as many as ten new arrivals.
One player that will likely get a reprieve is Van de Beek who is currently on loan at Everton until the end of the season. The midfielder has barely featured for United following his move from Ajax almost two years ago and Ten Hag, who brought the best out of him during his time at the Amsterdam Arena, believes he can play a pivotal role for United moving forward.
Ten Hag will have a £200m budget to operate with this summer as Harry Kane, Declan Rice, Darwin Nunez and Ruben Neves make up his four-man shortlist. Rangnick admitted after their 4-0 defeat by Liverpool that the number of new signings could reach double figures.
He said: "I am not blaming anyone, not my players nor anyone else, but we just have to realise what kind of squad they had available. Look at their bench, look at the four players who weren't even in the squad: Roberto Firmino was the only one who was injured. Oxlade-Chamberlain wasn't in the squad, Minamino was not in the squad, Harvey Elliott was not in the squad.
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"This shows what kind of quality and team they have built together working with Jurgen and his team for the last six years."
He continued by stating: "If you analyse the situation, it's not that difficult to analyse. The team needs a rebuild, not because some players have to go but quite a few have no contracts anymore, their contracts are expiring, then for me, it's clear there will be six, seven, eight, maybe ten new players."
