Erik ten Hag believes there’s Champions League quality players at Manchester United – but insists there is still room for improvement.
The ultimate aim for Erik ten Hag’s first season in charge was to get Manchester United back into the Champions League.
While the Reds are on course to do that, the attention will soon turn to Ten Hag’s second campaign in charge and whether United can challenge for a Premier League title as well as compete with the best teams in Europe.
United take on Brighton on Thursday night where victory will only strengthen our hold on a top four place. It would also dampen Brighton’s push for a European spot.
However, off the field, United could be involved in a big takeover with another deadline passing last Friday for interested parties to submit offers to buy the club.
The Glazer family has yet to reveal their response to the interest from Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al-Thani from Qatar.
Like the fanbase, Ten Hag admits that while he would prefer to have the future ownership sorted as soon as possible, he has no knowledge of its current status — or what he will have to spend in the transfer market this summer.
“Yeah,” Ten Hag told reporters, as quoted by iNews. “I think it’s clear what I want but it’s not up to me.
“It’s about others in the club, the family are the owners, they make the decisions, it’s not up to me so I do everything I can and I influence the processes I’m in charge of.”
With that, Ten Hag concede that he has not other choice but to focus on the current playing staff.
“It’s the same answer, where I can take my influence I will do on the process,” the manager added.
“But that is not my job or responsibility so I don’t have the power to influence that.
“So I’m focusing on improving the squad, the team development, so I have to make sure the team is progressing and I’m focusing on that.
“I don’t have influence on that, I don’t have … also I don’t know.
“The only thing I know is that Man United is one of the biggest clubs in the world, one of the biggest two or three from a fanbase perspective.
“The club has to compete for the highest in the world – Champions League, Premier League – but, in football, you need funds to construct squads because in the end of the day, the level from your players decides if you are successful or not.
“Everyone knows you need funds to construct a squad and high level players cost a lot of money and that’s the situation nowadays in top football.”
The uncertainty surrounding the transfer window has been caused by the Glazer family. They’ve slowed down the takeover process in an attempt to get more money out of the bidders. That could hold United back in the coming summer when Ten Hag should be backed to significantly strengthen the side.
But Ten Hag has to get the most out of the players at his disposal, just like he’s done in his first season.
Ten Hag believes the squad is already of Champions League quality.
“Yeah, I think so,” Ten Hag concluded. “But, of course I, we, see this as a project and the project also demands that in your windows you strengthen your squad needs or to make investments so you get more balance, you bring young players in.
“I think we have already shown the improvement that we can beat the best teams in the world.
“I think we can compete in the Champions League. I think we have shown we can compete but we want to knock them all about and there is some way to go.”
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