Man Utd talks with Erik ten Hag ‘going well’ as Dutchman looking likely to take job

Erik ten Hag in profile as Man Utd 'open talks' with Ajax boss

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Manchester United are seemingly edging closer to appointing Erik ten Hag as their new manager after it was claimed that talks with the Ajax chief are “going well”. Ten Hag was interviewed for the job by United last month and as been persistently linked with the role since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was axed back in November.

Ten Hag has forged a reputation as one of Europe’s most exciting coaches during his trophy-laden tenure at Ajax. The Dutchman has guided the Amsterdam-outfit to five trophies in four years; including two league titles.

It’s been claimed that the 52-year-old impressed the Old Trafford hierarchy during talks with the club. But while Ten Hag is the frontrunner for the role, Paris Saint-Germain chief Mauricio Pochettino has also reportedly held talks with the club and is seen as a viable candidate to succeed interim boss Ralf Rangnick in the summer.

However, the former Tottenham chief could be pipped to the role that he’s been linked with on a regular basis since 2019 after an update from journalist Jonathan Shrager, who claimed that talks between Ten Hag and the club are “going well”. He tweeted: “From what I can gather, nothing is finalised, nor imminent necessarily, but conversations are currently going well between Manchester United and Erik ten Hag.”.

If United do decide Ten Hag is their man, The Mirror exclusively revealed earlier this week that they would only have to pay a minimal compensation fee – under £2million – to prise him away from the reigning Dutch champions. The Ajax chief insisted on inserting a £1.7m release clause into the contract that he penned last April in order to keep his options open.

But as Ten Hag seemingly closes in on the job, it appears not everyone would be satisfied with his appointment. A new report from The Manchester Evening News has outlined that the Manchester United dressing room is currently ‘split’ on the appointment; with some United players seeing Ten Hag as an ‘underwhelming’ option.

And United’s all-time leading goalscorer, Wayne Rooney, has also snubbed Ten Hag by naming Pochettino as the man he thinks is best suited to oversee the huge rebuilding job at Old Trafford.

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Rooney told Sky Sports on Monday night: “I think Pochettino has done it in the Premier League, he knows the Premier League. At Tottenham, he brought a lot of young players through, at Southampton as well.

“If I’m choosing from one of the two, that’s who I’d choose. I’d go with Pochettino and give him time. I think for managers no, they need time to come in and put their blueprint on the club and the team. If you give him time, I think he’ll do well.

“For Manchester United not to be challenging, I think they’d want the season to stop now if it could and forget about the Champions League.They’re not going to compete next year in the Champions League if they qualify for it. They have to rebuild the squad and rebuild everything around the first team, round the club, to make sure they put themselves in the position to in two or three years’ time be ready to challenge again for the Premier League.”

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