On Thursday, Manchester United announced that Erik ten Hag will become their new manager in the summer, joining the Old Trafford club on a three-year deal.
The Dutch coach has been in charge at Ajax since 2017, where he has earned widespread acclaim for building two successful sides characterised by attractive, attacking football and talented youngsters. In replacing interim manager Ralf Rangnick, Ten Hag will become the sixth manager United have hired since Sir Alex Ferguson retired nine years ago.
United's decline over the past decade has made for pleasant viewing over on the blue side of the city, but Manchester City fans might now feel that finally, finally, their neighbours have managed to hire a coach who will return United to where they think they belong.
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However, it's not going to be easy. As reserve team manager at Bayern Munich from 2013 to 2015, Ten Hag worked fairly closely with Pep Guardiola. His style of football is largely built on that of the Catalan boss, so City fans are fairly well placed to let their cross-town rivals know what to expect.
An identifiable style
Since Ferguson retired in 2013 United have not had a style of football to really call their own, aside from the mythical 'United DNA' — whatever that is. Ten Hag will bring an identifiable style of football to the club, one that is not dissimilar to Guardiola's City. The Dutchman learned an awful lot from Guardiola at Bayern, so much so that he integrated several key aspects of Cruyffian football into his own playing philosophy.
Like Guardiola, Ten Hag likes his team to defend from the front and press, build attacks from the back, keep a high defensive line and dominate possession. He demands that his players train and play with a high intensity, and that they counter-press in order to win the ball back as soon as they've lost possession.
The latter is something that many thought Rangnick would implement, but with the players at his disposal he has been unable to do so. With time and money though, that will surely change under Ten Hag.
It's a gradual process
That brings us to the second point. Many expected Rangnick — the godfather of gegenpressing — to work miracles, but that obviously didn't happen. Ten Hag is going to have a massive rebuilding project on his hands, not just in terms of getting his players to understand and perfect his playing style but also in bringing new players in.
John Stones and Ilkay Gundogan were among the first players brought in when Guardiola arrived at City, but 2016/17 will still a largely disappointing year for the Blues.
It took the summer of 2017 for Guardiola to really get his squad looking how he wanted, as full-backs Pablo Zabaleta, Bacary Sagna, Gael Clichy and Aleksandr Kolarov just weren't up to meeting his demands.
Frankly, right now most of United's players look hopeless. It will take more than one pre-season to bring in all the new recruits Ten Hag needs and for his squad to adapt to a new style. There will be big defeats along the way, but in the end the players will get there.
Nervy moments
Every City fan remembers the horrors of watching Kolarov, playing at centre-back, attempting to play cute passes in and around the edge of City's penalty area while trying to play out from the back.
Acquiring the confidence to do that — as well as players capable of doing so — is a rocky process, and mistakes will be made. Judging by their exploits this season, the likes of David de Gea and Harry Maguire are either going to have to do a lot of work on their ball-playing ability or Ten Hag will need to find replacements.
Be prepared for screams of "get rid!" to cry out around Old Trafford as De Gea tries to be more like Ederson, or when Maguire tries to perform a Cruyff-turn under pressure from the opposition striker.
