Cristiano Ronald ‘will have to win over’ Erik Ten Hag when he takes over at Manchester United in the summer.
That’s according to De Telegraaf’s Ajax watcher Mike Verweij, who believes there could be difficulties early on in the Dutchman’s reign.
The Ajax manager appears to be Old Trafford bound in the summer, with reports from England and the Netherlands making it clear that he has an agreement in principle to make the move to England this summer.
Manchester United have been on the hunt for a long-term replacement for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, with current caretaker boss Ralf Rangnick set to step down at the end of the season.
Ten Hag has long been considered the favourite for the position, with his work at Ajax, who he has continually rebuilt amid sales and has competing for titles domestically and in Europe, ideal for what is needed on the red side of Manchester.
One problem Verweij can see problems arising early doors will be Ronaldo, having seen it happen before.
“Yes, I think Ronaldo will have to win over ten Hag,” he told De Telegraaf.
“He is very much into the players, and a lot of them have, in the beginning, been lost with his work. That will not be different with Ronaldo. I’m very curious to see how that goes.
Of course, turning things around at Manchester United is a completely different prospect to doing so at Ajax.
The Reds are seen as something of a trainer’s graveyard at this moment in time, having gone through a succession of coaches following Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013.
That’s left them with a mess of a squad assembled over different regimes, something Ten Hag is expected to address and fix.
He’s already been warned off the job by former Manchester United boss Louis Van Gaal and Verweij does state it will be like entering a hurricane.
“It’s nice that Louis van Gaal says that, of course he chose the commercial club himself. And yes, he didn’t leave United very well,” he added.
“He won the FA Cup there but didn’t perform very well, so you can say that Van Gaal knows what he’s talking about. The fact is that if a club of the calibre of United comes then you go for it.
“It’s true that it’s been nowhere and it is a trainer graveyard. Yes it is a difficult club but Ajax is always in the eye of the storm, although with United that is a force 20 hurricane. I think that it is a very big challenge.
“What can you say when you have paid for such a disappointing season? It can only get better? That’s true.
“It’s also likely that next season may be a season without European football, that’s not nice because you want to play as high as possible, preferably in the Champions League. But it can also be very nice to start building a team in peace.”
