Man Utd: ‘Ruthless’ Sir Jim Ratcliffe to axe Ten Hag, with ‘abysmal’ strategy putting boss ‘under pressure’

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been backed to get rid of Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag in the near future, with one pundit naming the club’s ‘abysmal’ transfer strategy as a key reason for his potential departure.

Ten Hag has played an important role in Man Utd’s transfer dealings since arriving at Old Trafford in the summer of 2022. In his first transfer window as Man Utd boss, the Dutchman demanded the signings of Antony, Lisandro Martinez and Tyrell Malacia.

Ten Hag was also gunning for Man Utd to land Frenkie de Jong from Barcelona, but he was forced to settle for Casemiro as De Jong did not want to move.

Man Utd also landed Christian Eriksen and Martin Dubravka that summer, before capturing Wout Weghorst, Marcel Sabitzer and Jack Butland in January.

During the most recent summer transfer window, Man Utd began the next phase of their rebuild under Ten Hag by signing the likes of Mason Mount, Rasmus Hojlund, Andre Onana and Sofyan Amrabat.

But out of all of those signings, it could be argued that only Casemiro and Martinez have improved the team significantly. Of course, Mount, Hojlund, Onana and Amrabat need more time to adapt to the club before they can impress, though Onana’s high-profile mistakes have been a cause for concern.

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Former Liverpool and Nottingham Forest striker Stan Collymore has now ripped into Ten Hag for his errors in the transfer market. Collymore even thinks that if Man Utd’s results and performances do not pick up, prospective new owner Ratcliffe will show his ‘ruthless’ side and move to bring an elite manager in.

‘Antony, Jadon Sancho, Casemiro… there hasn’t been one Manchester United player that you would say has been a consistent eight out of 10 over the past couple of seasons,’ Collymore wrote in his column for CaughtOffside.

Man Utd recruitment labelled ‘abysmal’

‘In terms of a comparison with Liverpool or in particular Manchester City, United’s recruitment has been abysmal.

‘Look at Manchester City; Haaland comes in and does the job, Grealish comes in but then Doku arrives and takes his place and all of a sudden it’s ‘now you’ve got to be a nine out of 10, Jack…’

‘I don’t see anybody at Manchester United that’s anywhere near that level, and their transfers haven’t been above a five out of 10.’

The pundit continued: ‘That means Erik ten Hag is under major pressure, no doubt. I don’t think at the moment he’s got the kind of credibility he needs, having come from Ajax, to be able to survive a full season of mediocrity.

‘He got out of jail winning the Carabao Cup last season, but if Jim Ratcliffe comes in, and is ruthless as he has been in his business dealings, then you’re looking at who potentially could replace Ten Hag.’

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