Manchester United’s dire defeat to Tottenham on Sunday afternoon has seen the pressure ramp up on under-fire boss Erik ten Hag.
The Dutchman’s future in the job was a topic of much speculation at the end of last season after the Red Devils slumped to an eighth-place finish, their worst in the Premier League era.
An FA Cup which saw their neighbours Manchester City defeated in the Wembley final no doubt played a part in Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s decision to stick with Ten Hag, as the club activated a one-year extension on the 54-year-old’s deal. But with the club having lost three of their six Premier League matches so far this term, the heat is on Ten Hag more than ever.
Why Manchester United won't rush to sack Ten Hag
Ten Hag insisted following the 3-0 defeat to Spurs that he was ‘not thinking’ about the prospect of losing his job, but the former Axaj chief is the clear, odds-on favourite with the bookmakers to be the next Premier League manager to go.
But if the Dutchman is looking for reasons to be optimistic that he will be given time to turn the ship around at Old Trafford, he can look no further than a report from Goal which reveals just how much the club will have to pay in compensation if they decide to replace him.
They claim that it would cost an estimated £17.5million to sack Ten Hag, a figure that has significantly risen after the club added that extra year to his contract.
Had the team made the decision to part ways with their manager in the summer, this fee would have been around £10million, the report adds, which equates to half the amount that the club saved from making 250 employees redundant this year.
The i also look at some of the footballing reasons why the board are reluctant to pull the trigger, citing sporting director Dan Ashworth’s record of being patient with under-pressure coaches in the past, while the club is also happy to give their new signings to bed in following a summer in which they were happy with their recruitment.
However, should they lose their next two games, which are a Europa League trip to Porto followed by Aston Villa away, before next month’s international break, Ten Hag’s position will be reviewed.
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In FourFourTwo’s view, a club taking a long-term perspective on a manager’s future is commendable, but Ten Hag has to show that this team is progressing and there have been few signs of that this season.
While the club's problems are by no means all down to Ten Hag, as they continue to pay for mistakes from the previous regime, the display at Tottenham was disjointed, ill-disciplined and lacking in identity and after more than two years in charge, Ten Hag should be doing better.
