Erik Ten Hag could clear out the Manchester United squad if they don’t comply with the brand of football he wants to implement.
That’s according to Rafael van der Vaart, who believes the Dutchman could decide to get rid of the current crop of stars if he deems it necessary.
Ten Hag is the favourite to take charge at Old Trafford this summer when current manager Ralf Rangnick steps down from his caretaker role.
Reports in England yesterday claimed that he had reached an agreement in principle with Manchester United over a deal, which have since been backed up in the Netherlands.
The Dutchman now looks extremely likely to be Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s long-term replacement as United look to get back on track in the near future.
Part of that will be reshaping a squad that many feel isn’t up to the standard required at Manchester United, and Van der Vaart believes Ten Hag could get ruthless on that front.
“It’s a great squad, but they just play very badly,” he told Ziggo Sport, relayed by Voetbal Primeur.
“It’s not always the coach’s fault. You can say: ten Hag is not a big name in England, but maybe that’s an advantage. If you’re not going to cooperate with his plan, just leave.”
And it seems Van der Vaart is not the only one thinking that way about ten Hag at Manchester United either.
Algemeen Dagblad also cover his imminent move and state that a ‘big cleanup’ awaits the Dutchman at Old Trafford.
They say that the current team is one ‘without a connection’ made up of players from several different regimes that were ‘guided by different philosophies’.
Thus ten Hag will have to do a ‘major cleanup’ and could be boosted by the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Paul Pogba departing to free up around €600,000 a week in wages alone.
That would ‘immediately make room’ for some ‘top purchases’ to help him get the side closer to what he would want and ‘make his job a success’.
Whether he will be allowed to do business on his own or as part of a team remains to be seen, but like Van der Vaart, AD believe Manchester United’s new manager will be spearheading a major clearout once he arrives.
