‘First thing’ – Erik ten Hag and Jim Ratcliffe outline Manchester United’s transfer plans

Erik Ten Hag is set to sign a new contract at Manchester United after the club decided to keep him in charge. With reinforcements to his coaching staff underway, fans are hoping that new signings will soon follow to strengthen the squad.

As reported by MEN Sport this weekend, United want a defender, a midfielder and a striker, with any further signings potentially dependent on offloading unwanted players. Everton centre-back Jarrad Branthwaite, PSG midfielder Manuel Ugarte and Bologna striker Joshua Zirkzee are options.

While United work in the background, it’s worth remembering what Ten Hag and co-owner Jim Ratcliffe had to say about transfers in the run-up to the transfer window.

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Erik Ten Haag

While Ten Hag’s future was discussed at the end of the season, there was still time for the manager to discuss his plans for the transfer market. In April, he said: “We’re working in the background on plans with scouting and our staff. We are working on our plan, which is ready, we just have to execute it.

“I trust the new ownership to work as quickly as possible and bring in new structures and they will be able to execute. We have good plans with quality players, so see about the recruitment. (Andre) Onana is doing very well, (Rasmus) Hojlund, everyone sees his great talent and potential (Lisandro) Martinez, everyone is very happy with him Recruitment is good, but if they (INEOS) have even better ideas, we are always open.

“You have to judge the options and if they have better options, we’re open to supplementing that. We have a way we want to play so we know exactly the profiles, so it has to fit the profiles we want.”

Later in April, Ten Hag went further, saying he wanted a quality back-up option in every position – highlighting the need for a new striker and left-back. “You need more options. You need the double in every position,” he said.

“Some positions we didn’t have a choice this season – the forward position, the left-back position – and that has a negative impact on the results.”

In May, Ten Hag also met with Ineos about future plans in the transfer market, at the same time as talk of his own future grew. He said: “The initial meetings are good. Now we have to take things quickly because the summer is coming. It’s a very important time when you enter a window. We want to take the next step in our team and make plans to create a environment that avoids this year’s injury problems.”

And ahead of the FA Cup final, Ten Hag spoke of an end-of-season review with INEOS, presumably separate from the review carried out to decide whether or not to sack him.

“After every season you review it and we’ll see where we are in the draft, things we need to change, but we’ve been talking about that lately,” Ten Hag explained. “There are very good things, players coming, players developing, values ​​coming and on Saturday we have a great opportunity to win the next trophy.”

Jim Ratcliffe

After acquiring a minority stake in United, Ratcliffe and INEOS also took control of transfers, with the new co-owner explaining in March what he wanted from United’s business.

“What I’d rather do is find the next (Kylian) Mbappe than spend a fortune just trying to buy success,” Ratcliffe told the Geraint Thomas Cycling Club podcast. “It’s not that smart, is it, to buy Mbappe, in a way?

“Anyone could figure it out. But what is much more difficult is finding the next Mbappe, the next (Jude) Bellingham or the next Roy Keane.”

In the same interview, Ratcliffe distanced United from repeating the big-money signings of recent years. “The solution is not to spend a lot of money on a few great players,” he insisted.

“They’ve done that, if you look at the last 10 years. The first thing we need to do is get the right people in the right boxes, managing and organizing the club.

“We have to make sure we recruit correctly, such an important part of running a football club is recruiting correctly, finding new players.”