Manchester United are all set to retain the services of manager Erik ten Hag according to close sources from the club. Ten Hag, whose future has been in doubt after a poor season with United where they finished eighth in the Premier League, is likely to be the man at the helm at least for the start of the 2024-25 season. This comes after United recently completed their end-of-the-season review and will continue with the Dutch gaffer having won the FA Cup in his second season in charge.

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United likely to retain Ten Hag

According to reports, the Dutchman’s review was met with a positive outcome from the United board with new minor stakeholder Sri Jim Ratcliffe happy to keep in charge. According to the reports, the club was also unable to bring in a capable replacement for Ten Hag if he was fired. This was the same case with Bayern Munich who at the end of the season tried to persuade Thomas Tuchel to stay at the German club.

United’s top targets included Thomas Tuchel and Mauricio Pochettino, but the former denied taking the job, according to a few reports on Monday, while the latter’s ability to work with big-name players was questioned.

United were also linked with Roberto de Zerbi and Graham Potter, but neither was worth taking a risk, according to the management reports.

This left United with no option but to keep Ten Hag temporarily while there are no talks of a contract extension on the current deal. Another indication of the Dutchman’s retention was the board’s decision to sell Jadon Sancho

Both Sancho and Ten Hag had huge differences between them which resulted in the former being frozen out of the first team and later loaned out to Borussia Dortmund for the second half of the season. With his loan deal expiring and the club planning for pre-season, it was expected that both Ten Hag and Sancho would cross paths once again, but it is now reported that the English player will be on an extended leave before any decision is made on his future.

Despite accumulating United’s worst Premier League finish in the eighth place, Ten Hag became the first United manager since Sir Alex Ferguson to win trophies in back-to-back seasons which included the 2-1 FA Cup win over arch-rivals Manchester City in May.

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