Manchester United are reportedly still giving Erik ten Hag a lot of control over transfers and pursuing his preferred targets despite the appoint of three new directors in the form of Dan Ashworth, Jason Wilcox and Christopher Vivell in the last few months.
Wilcox is the new technical director at Man Utd, while Ashworth is the sporting director, and Vivell is the director of global talent, but it seems all that expertise might not be put to much use after all.
According to the Manchester Evening News, these directors still seem mainly to be in the business of delivering the players Ten Hag wants, which has not exactly been a successful strategy so far.
Ten Hag transfers haven’t worked out for Manchester United
The Dutch tactician has brought in some big names who shone under him at his previous club Ajax, such as Antony and Lisandro Martinez, but the latter has had injury troubles and the former has proven a major flop.
Other signings such as Andre Onana, Casemiro, Mason Mount and Sofyan Amrabat have also been poor, while it’s worth noting that Jadon Sancho looked superb after being forced out by Ten Hag and going out on loan to Borussia Dortmund.
Ten Hag probably isn’t the man who should have so much say over transfers and identifying talent, so it will be interesting to see if this new-look board can at some point exert a bit more influence and perhaps broaden the club’s horizons.
United have majorly lagged behind rivals like Liverpool and Arsenal on this front in recent years, with those two clubs spending far less on players but getting much better value in the market.
Much of the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era is characterised by expensive flops such as Paul Pogba, Angel Di Maria, Harry Maguire, Sancho and Antony, and fans will no doubt have been hoping that the likes of Wilcox and Ashworth could help change this.