Manchester United's recruitment department are set to present their shortlist of transfer targets to Erik ten Hag ahead of his appointment as the club's next boss.
The club's scouting department have been compiling a shortlist of players in each position who they believe are outstanding candidates to be signed this summer. While United have been working on analysing these players for months, Ten Hag will have his say on any final decisions and the Dutchman will be allowed to present his own preferred targets.
Ajax boss ten Hag, 52, met with United bosses last month to talk about becoming their new manager and is the leading candidate to take the job on a permanent basis this summer. Despite being dissuaded from taking the job by former United boss and fellow Dutchman Louis van Gaal, ESPN has led reports on Wednesday that ten Hag's appointment is now being finalised.
Paris Saint-Germain coach Mauricio Pochettino had also been in the frame for the post. Pochettino had initially been the favourite for the United job, as reported in February. Mirror Football later revealed that the Argentine was the preferred candidate among the players in United’s dressing room. Pochettino had also met with United officials, following on from the club’s talks with ten Hag – but the club appear to have settled on the Dutchman.
One factor in that decision is that the compensation package required for ten Hag with Ajax is thought to be a relatively paltry £1.7million, with the strong relations between the two clubs said to help pave the way for an amicable arrangement. Paris Saint-Germain were holding out for a £15million compensation package for ex-Tottenham boss Pochettino.
Ten Hag will be presented by the club with their shortlist of transfer targets across each position with a summer of huge change expected at Old Trafford. A series of first-team squad players are out of contract at the club and are expected to leave as free agents, including Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard, Edinson Cavani and Juan Mata. There are also doubts over the future of a number of other players, most notably Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcus Rashford.
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It is anticipated that there will be several additions to United's squad to replenish their ranks with a view to going straight into the starting line-up. Ten Hag will have a say on each arrival, with the interview process for the job also encompassing questions of how he envisages the squad development.
Ten Hag has twice won the Eredivisie title at Ajax with both the 2018-19 and 2020-21 seasons also seeing the Amsterdam giants winning the KNVB Cup. However, it is the Dutchman's work in European football with Ajax that really caught the eye – in 2019 they reached the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in 15 years and reached the semi-final stage, while this year they blitzed through a group stage including Borussia Dortmund and Sporting Lisbon.
Ten Hag has previously managed Dutch sides Go Ahead Eagles and FC Utrecht, while he also spent two seasons at the helm of Bayern Munich's B side. He has a win percentage of 64.2 per cent across his career with Ajax's record under him at 74 per cent.
