Man United and the hierarchy at Old Trafford have seemingly hinted they will not try to tempt Thomas Tuchel away from Chelsea after reportedly sounding out a compensation fee for Ajax boss Erik ten Hag.
Ralf Rangnick was appointed as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's successor until the end of the season, with the German then set to move into a consultancy role. The hunt is on for the next permanent manager at the club then with Paris Saint-Germain's Mauricio Pochettino and Ajax's Ten-Hag both strongly linked. But with the future of Chelsea currently uncertain as Roman Abramovich deliberates over who should succeed him as owner of the club, Tuchel's situation has also been thrown into doubt. While the German has repeatedly reaffirmed his commitment to the club, he continues to be drawn into speculation.
Amid Rio Ferdinand's recommendation to appoint either one of Tuchel or the former Spurs boss due to him being familiar with the pair, it is looking as though the Red Devils are edging closer to choosing Ten Hag as their preferred option after an impressive interview was conducted last week. This is according to Sky Sports who have reported that the club have been 'informally' gathering information around the man that Louie Van Gaal has urged to snub the offer in favour of a more palatable football based move for the up and coming manager.
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United had also targeted Sevilla's Julen Loptegui and Spain's Luis Enrique but despite optimism on the latter of the pair, the former has categorically ruled himself out of the running on his own accord with his statement: "I am where I want to be. Continue on the Sevilla bench next season? I have no doubt." With Enrique, United would have to wait until after the World Cup to appoint the former Barcelona manager and with the summer transfer window fast approaching, need a new head coach to take the reins immediately to help with recruitment etc.
Despite the club clearly honing in on Ten Hag and Pochettino, who had played against each other's teams in that famous Ajax-Spurs Champions League semi-final, Ferdinand himself would not want the Dutchman's compensation to be prepared and paid just yet as he has signalled out the Chelsea manager as the right person to take the club forward and back to their successful days of winning unlimited silverware. “I’m taking Tuchel man, I don’t care,” admitted Ferdinand, speaking on the Vibe with Five YouTube channel. “If the roles were reversed and Man United were there and had Tuchel as a sitting duck at our football club, we are presuming he’s a sitting duck from the reports we are hearing.
“If that was the case and the roles were reversed, trust me, Roman and the empire would knock down the door. They wouldn’t even knock down the door, they’d run round the side and take him. Tuchel would be the one. He’s got the pedigree. He’s shown already that he can come into this league, he’s adapted straight away, he’s won the Champions League, he can galvanise a squad, he can get them playing. He can create a culture, create a togetherness. He’s got discipline.”
