Erik ten Hag resisted Gary Neville's call for a "brutal" cull of his Manchester United squad after setting out his plan in his first press conference as manager.
Ten Hag was confirmed as interim boss Ralf Rangnick's successor in April and was expected to get rid of several big-name players after they finished sixth in the Premier League during the 2021/22 campaign. Neville was one of many pundits that predicted as much.
"If Erik ten Hag is going to be really brutal like Jurgen Klopp was when he first went into Liverpool and got rid of Christian Benteke or when Joe Hart was let go by Pep Guardiola, he’s going to be letting a lot of this lot go," Neville told Sky Sports in April.
"Because they can’t press high up the pitch, they haven’t got the physicality, they don’t want to win the ball back early, they don’t chase down and hunt together.
"I think there’s going to be a massive, massive change and obviously five or six of them are going anyway because they are out of contract but I can see even more being let go. A real brutal sort of if you like transition."
Even Rangnick suggested Ten Hag needed to rip apart the squad. "It’s not enough to do some minor amendments - cosmetic things," said the German after his successor was confirmed. "In medicine you would say that this is an operation of the open heart.
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"If this happens and everyone has realised that this has to happen and if people want to work together then it makes sense and I believe it doesn’t take two or three years to change those things. This can happen within one year."
Although United did release Edinson Cavani, Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard, Juan Mata and Nemanja Matic - as well as sell Andreas Pereira, Tahith Chong and James Garner - most of players who left in the summer were expected to quit regardless of Ten Hag's input.
None of United's summer departures were 'brutally' cut from the squad, with Ten Hag doing what he promised all the way back in May. Speaking to the English press for the first time, the Dutchman rejected calls to complete an overhaul of his new squad.
"I am still in the process of analysing to set conclusions," said Ten Hag. "I am looking forward to working with these players. The season before [2020/21], this squad was second in the league, so there is huge potential. I think if we improve, if we can work with them, I think we can get out more than what is now the result from this season."
Ten Hag has brought in just half-a-dozen players since those comments. He's signed Tyrell Malacia from Feyenoord, Christian Eriksen from Brentford, Casemiro from Real Madrid, Martin Dubravka from Newcastle (loan) and Lisandro Martinez and Antony from Ajax.
As exclusively revealed by Mirror Football, Ten Hag held one-on-one meetings with every member of his inherited squad to discuss their respective futures. These meetings were conducted in April and May, with the process lasting around three weeks.
