Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag completely unrecognisable with long locks in throwback

Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag is completely unrecognisable in a throwback clip from his youth.

A 13-year-old Ten Hag appeared on Johan Cruyff's TV show 'Cruyff and co' when he was a part of FC Twente's academy. Back then he had a full head of hair, a stark contrast to the bald look he's sported throughout his managerial career.

But you can tell that it is the Dutchman, 52, because of the tactical mastery he displayed even at that young age. He first asked the legendary Cruyff how best to develop his technique.

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He was met with a response of: "Developing your technique is really quite simple. You have to do it: train, train, train. That is the only thing that you have to do above anything else."

Ten Hag then turned from asking the questions to answering them, giving a speech way beyond his years. He said: "With youngsters, you have to be careful not to shout too much because that can break a player. [They might think] 'Ah, football means nothing to me. I am quitting'.

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"With higher level teams such as Ajax's first team or Twente's first team, it doesn't matter, a trainer may say something because those lads are training more often during the week and if they keep on making the same mistakes over and over again, then I think something may very well be said about that."

Before being appointed by the Red Devils, Ten Hag was shown the footage earlier this year as it resurfaced from nearly 40 years ago. Reflecting on it, he said: "He took us for a training session, and everyone was taught a certain skill.

"Johan Cruyff would then go on to train that with us and afterwards we were all to go back to the studio to talk about it. I was a big fan of him because of his way of playing.

"And he was the first player when I was growing up, who was at a big club abroad but above all turning Ajax into a great club. Then you always got to hear about it from my uncles, because I was only really young then."

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