Former Premier League striker turned pundit Darren Bent believes Thomas Tuchel is ‘a far better manager than Erik ten Hag’, but has issued a warning to Manchester United after being linked with the German coach.
Erik ten Hag is under mounting pressure to keep his job, with his future believed to have been discussed at Tuesday’s meeting between executives in London.
After a terrible start to the season, United are positioned 14th in the Premier League and we’ve drawn our first two matches in the Europa League.
No decision has been made to sack Ten Hag, but there have been multiple reports of Tuchel or Ruud van Nistelrooy succeeding the former Ajax boss at Old Trafford.
Thomas Tuchel is better than Erik ten Hag, says Darren Bent
While praising Tuchel’s managerial acumen, Bent stressed that appointing the Champions League winner would be a mistake due to the potential misalignment between the tactician and the club over issues of recruitment.
Speaking on talkSPORT radio on Monday, Bent said (as quoted by GiveMeSport): “You know, that’s the thing, if you’re looking on paper, right? Let’s take Gareth Southgate out of it and Thomas Frank, who I’m a big fan of. Thomas Tuchel’s a far better manager than Erik ten Hag. That’s just facts, right?
“It seems to me that the stumbling block with that is going to be, and we spoke about it before we came on the air here, about the recruitment policy. Because Thomas Tuchel is going to want to obviously have his say on who the club sign, and who he wants to work with, and the club want to go down that sporting director path, where those guys maybe identify the player.
“I mean, Tuchel coaches those players. So, if that’s the case, if that’s the route they want to go down, then Thomas Tuchel’s not the man for Manchester United, because he wants to be the one who picks the players. He’s quite combative. He wants things to be done his way. And if Man United don’t want to do that, then there’s no point in getting him in, as good as he is. He’s obviously got his way of managing, and the club have got a way that they want the guy to manage, so it’s not going to line up.”
