Roy Keane believes that unless Erik ten Hag is given the ability to ruthlessly overhaul the playing staff at Manchester United, his appointment will make little difference.
Ten Hag was confirmed as United’s new First Team Manager last week and is set to begin his time at Old Trafford after finishing the current campaign with Ajax. The Dutchman is set to arrive with the club at their lowest ebb in a number of years following a miserable season under first Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and then Ralf Rangnick.
The Red Devils look destined to miss out on the Champions League altogether next year and haven’t lifted a trophy since the end of the 2016/17 season. Ten Hag follows in the footsteps of David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Solskjaer in attempting to replicate the successes of legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
And while Keane is a fan of bringing in Ten Hag, he is waiting to reserve judgement, claiming the “proof will be in the pudding”. “I think it is a good appointment, with all the speculation it has been on the cards for the last few months and I think the club will be glad just to get the deal done,” he told Sky Sports.
“He can start looking at the club, albeit from the background because he does not start until July. He has got a solid CV, a good reputation but the proof is in the pudding and we will see what he is like when he is in job and whether he can get Manchester United back to where they need to be.”
Keane infamously, correctly predicted that the underperforming players would get Solskjaer get the sack and also suggested that Rangnick would struggle with the squad so short of quality. And the former United captain thinks that like his predecessors, unless Ten Hag is able to completely reshape the playing staff at his disposal, he would be surprised if he will be able to make a big change.
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“Look at the starting 11, it’s not a good team. It’s not good enough to be competing at the top,” Keane added. “In terms of the skill level, technique, but certainly I think the biggest let down that we’ve seen in the last few months is the mentality.
"I think he can make slight improvements of course and we talk about recruitment and players who have come into Manchester United in the last year or two - Varane and Sancho - it’s been difficult for them. They’ve been coming into a team and there’s certainly not a good culture at the club. It’s not a good dressing room, you can tell that with the performances.
“It’s a case of rebuilding the club, getting lads in who will give their all week in and week out. We go back to recruitment, you hope the manager will have a big say in it because the previous managers have all come out and said their hands were tied a little bit and that’s a problem.”
