Manchester United favourite Jaap Stam wants Erik ten Hag to be given enough time to shine at Old Trafford — but his message comes with a' must compete' trophy warning. Change is on the horizon at United as the outgoing Ajax coach takes over from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on a permanent basis.
Ten Hag will see out the remainder of this campaign in Amsterdam as he targets a third Eredivisie title in four years. However, with the United failing to win a trophy since 2017 — the Europa League under Jose Mourinho — there will be an instant expectation, in some circles, for the 52-year-old Dutchman to succeed.
Speaking to Sky Sports, former United defender Stam said: "The quality of teams against you there is going to be much higher. It's going to be more difficult to be as dominant as Ajax.
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"For him to do the same in the Premier League you need to spend money and bring in players of a certain ability, because they need to fit into his philosophy and way of playing. He has been doing that in Holland and, probably, will try to do the same thing at Manchester."
On the club showing patience with Ten Hag, Stam added: "You need to get time to do this. Do you get time? That is always the issue for a coach.
"If you are one of the biggest clubs in the world, always every season you need to compete for trophies. You may not have time to build, or have a bad season to, hopefully, make the next season a good one. In every season they must compete for the FA Cup, for winning the Premier League and to do well in the Champions League.
"You need to find that balance to use players that you have, the players you are keen on as a new coach. Then by adding your own players, hopefully you can implement your playing style to get results over the season."
