Manchester United: Erik ten Hag says 2024-25 season will be ‘survival of the fittest’ as new manager joins

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag wants to draw a line under the uncertainties of the past and is looking forward to a season he believes will represent “survival of the fittest”.

The way his side won the FA Cup final against Manchester City at Wembley in May almost certainly kept Ten Hag in a job.

Confirmation of the 54-year-old’s renewal – triggering a one-year option in his contract that will keep the former Ajax boss at Old Trafford until 2026 – came after a lengthy review by new part-owners Ineos.

Ten Hag optimistically stated that “if they don’t want me, I’ll go and win somewhere else” after the FA Cup success.

It was a sign of his confidence, although the Ten Hag is keen to draw a line under the uncertainty at the start of a tournament in which United have been joined by new chief executive Omar Berrada, sporting director Dan Ashworth and technical director Jason Wilcox. .

“This (winning trophies) is what I’ve done my whole career,” Ten Hag said. “I believe in myself. We had to wait a long time, but by the end we got the reward.

“Now we are in a new season. We have left everything behind and we are looking forward. It is a great project. There will be ups and downs, but now we are very energetic, with a good dynamic and a good spirit. We want to work and we want to win.”

United were decimated by injuries last season, particularly in defence, where they had six players missing at various points.

Ten Hag has already solved the problem on and off the field.

Almost £90 million was spent on French defender Leny Yoro and Dutch forward Joshua Zirkzee. In addition, United brought in two highly regarded members of Arsenal’s backroom team in Gary O’Driscoll as head of sports medicine and Jordan Reece as chief medical officer.

“Even more than before, this season will be survival of the fittest,” said Ten Hag, whose side face Arsenal in a pre-season tournament on Saturday.

“The load on the players is so high. We’re not the only team with so many injuries and we weren’t even the worst. It was our bad luck. We had them at the end of the season in the back four and it cost us a lot of points. But the pressure on players is huge, with the new model from Europe”.

United’s FA Cup final victory means they have qualified for the Europa League which, like the Champions League, will involve eight first-leg matches rather than the familiar six.

Ten Hag continue to look for new players, with full-back and central defense being the priority positions.

However, he realizes he needs to get more out of the players he has, particularly England duo Marcus Rashford and Mason Mount.

Rashford’s form collapsed in the final term as he went from a career-high 30 goals in 2022-23 to just eight.

Mount has started just five Premier League games since his £55m move from Chelsea last summer and was limited to just one minute as a substitute against City at Wembley.

“Rashford had scored so many goals and at a relatively young age,” said Ten Hag. “He’s capable of it. I am confident and believe 100% that he can do the same as he did two years ago.

“I’m not judging Mason because he was injured, but when he’s fit he’ll be a very good player. You need certain types in a team. He can play in different positions and I’m sure he’ll help the team.”

Minutes before Ten Hag kicked off his first press conference at the UCLA complex in Los Angeles, United confirmed another addition to their coaching staff in former Lillestrom and Malmo boss Andreas Georgson.

The 42-year-old previously had spells in England at Brentford, Arsenal and Southampton and joins ex-United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy and ex-Go Ahead Eagles coach Rene Hake in a much-changed back unit .

“We did a staff review and did some profiling of what we want to fill,” Ten Hag said. “He will do his work in areas such as individual development, winning culture and game play.”

Meanwhile, Genoa are weighing up a move for former United goalkeeper David de Gea.

The 33-year-old Spaniard has been without a club for over a year since leaving Old Trafford.