Erik ten Hag has broken his silence on Manchester United’s transfer activity amid links to Netherlands international Matthijs de Ligt.
Although De Ligt is Dutch, Ten Hag was keen to stress that he isn’t solely responsible for bringing the Bayern Munich centre-back to Old Trafford.
United completed the signing of Leny Yoro from Lille for an initial £52m on Thursday but the club has yet to rule out the possibility of signing another defender.
Raphael Varane left the club at the end of his contract this month and Willy Kambwala has been sold to Villarreal in Spain. There is the opportunity to sell more defenders as Victor Lindelof and Harry Maguire remain on the wage list.
Of course, Ten Hag worked with De Ligt during his time at Ajax and, if he moves to Old Trafford this summer, he would be following in the footsteps of Ajax alumni Lisandro Martinez, Antony and Andre Onana.
It is understood that the 24-year-old is keen to leave the Allianz Arena to reunite with Ten Hag this summer. The Reds already have a strong Dutch group at the club, including Joshua Zirkzee and coaches Ruud van Nistelrooy, Rene Hake and Jelle ten Rouwelaar.
Ten Hag stresses that he is not the only one making decisions when it comes to transfers. He is coming to terms with working with United’s new structure which has delivered two new signings already.
”We still have to wait and see whether De Ligt will come,” Ten Hag told Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dadblad. “But the good thing is, during my vacation I was out of the process for three or four weeks. During that period it was really the club, the newly established scouting and recruitment department, that brought in these players.
“The fact that there are also Dutch players among them is actually a coincidence. Primarily these were players who were brought in by our organisation. But of course I support them, let that be clear – and we still make the choice together.”
With United working together on deals, everyone will be able to take responsibility and it won’t just stop at the manager. That is what happened with the previous structure and it that is why we hired multiple managers in recent years.
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