Rene Meulensteen has urged newly-appointed Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag to swot up on the Premier League and emulate Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel. The 52-year-old is poised to step into the Old Trafford dugout after completing this season with Ajax.
Change is on the horizon for United five months after they sacked Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. It took key figures upstairs time to make this next managerial move, but Ten Hag has now been appointed after edging out former Tottenham coach Mauricio Pochettino for the permanent vacancy.
Success will be expected once the Dutchman touches down. However, in order for him to replicate his achievements from five trophy-laden seasons with the Eredivisie giants, Meulensteen believes Ten Hag must take a closer look at Tuchel and follow suit to conquer the elevation in standard which awaits.
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Tuchel won the Champions League with Chelsea months after landing his first job in England. Ex-United assistant coach Meulensteen told Sky Sports: "The leagues is one of the biggest differences that he will face. You cannot compare the Dutch league with the Premier League.
"Over at Ajax with the style that he plays, it's expansive, it's open, it's attacking. If he goes to any team from place 10 downwards, he can turn up with Ajax and basically win 60 to 70 per cent of those games. You would never be able to do that in the Premier League.
"Any top-four team in the Premier League that goes to a bottom-four team in the Premier League still has to fight very hard for points. He has to hit the ground running."
Meulensteen added: "You can compare that with Thomas Tuchel at Chelsea. He has never worked over here in the Premier League, but he came over here and did his homework. You could see that straight away and his impact was immediate with Chelsea. Erik needs to do that."
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