Feyenoord’s Tyrell Malacia is set to become Erik ten Hag’s first summer signing. The left-back has already expressed his delight over making a switch to Old Trafford.
Manchester United are also close to completing a deal for Christian Eriksen as the former Ajax man has verbally agreed to join them on a free transfer. In addition to this, Ten Hag is also looking to reunite with his former player, Lisandro Martínez.
The 52-year-old had also included Ajax’s Antony and Jurriën Timber in his target list for the Red Devils.
Tuesday’s edition of Algemeen Dagblad states [jokingly] ‘in Manchester they are increasingly wondering whether the club employs scouts at all’.
That’s because their manager is ‘being whispered at to keep the Eredivisie clan within limits’, considering his assistants, Mitchell van der Gaag and Steve McClaren, have also previously worked with Ten Hag in the Netherlands.
It’s said the coach wants to quickly implement his style of play at Manchester United, and to do this, he wants players familiar with his ‘game principles’. So far, AD says, his targets have all had that in common, including Eriksen.
Former Netherlands international Ronald de Boer has given his views on Ten Hag’s choice to bet on the aforementioned players.
“The common football language is an advantage. And as a player you have an advantage if the trainer knows you. Especially in England, where they can throw money and new trainers have yet to discover you,” De Boer said.
“Despite that, I think that trainers should be careful with it. It can get tricky, because a lot of guys of the same nationality meet up in the dressing room. Then you will form groups faster. And if the results diminish, the Dutch are immediately pointed to as the ones who are to blame for the decline.”
While giving their own take on this case, AD state: “An ‘invasion’ of players from a certain corner is usually tolerated in the event of success, but the outside world will unceremoniously burn the trainer and his purchases in the event of lesser results, also because, according to the press and fans, they then hinder the flow of (self-trained) compatriots. To get ahead of or curb that resistance, the newcomers must quickly join the world’s toughest competition.”
“The relatively small defenders Malacia and Martínez may effortlessly hold their own in the Eredivisie, the Premier League is a different story. The game is more intense, the tempo higher and the opposition many times stronger.”
