Sacking Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in November, Manchester United subsequently started the process of finding the long-term successor to the Norwegian.
It was something the club wanted to get right, so no rushed decisions were made, and Ralf Rangnick was appointed as interim manager until the end of the season.
Mauricio Pochettino and Erik ten Hag quickly emerged as the lead candidates in a race the Dutchman eventually won, with the announcement already taking place.
The manager, however, first has to see out the current campaign with Ajax Amsterdam before taking over at Manchester United.
He made that clear ahead of his current club’s upcoming fixture against AZ, asked if he had already had any input on his future life at Old Trafford.
He replied, relayed by Voetbal International: “I am not yet involved with Manchester United. I’m working on Ajax. I’m used to that [the excitement of him taking over in Manchester]. Ajax is also a big club, but it’s not about the media, it’s about football. I now have to perform with Ajax.”
The same applies to working with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo this summer: “Those are questions for the future. We are in an important title race and an important week. I now want to focus my attention on that and not on Manchester United.”
However, he was more than happy to talk about a chat the Old Trafford faithful had put together for their new manager.
He said: “I have seen that. It’s creative, well-found. Playful, fun.”
One of the big questions in all this is whether any of his current crop of Ajax players will follow him to Manchester United, with reports the likes of Sébastien Haller or Antony could end up moving to the north of England as well.
Ten Hag was quick to downplay that, however: “No, there are no agreements about that. I now have very good players, but it’s not an issue at all.”
