Journalist believes lack of Manchester United January signings hints at major Ratcliffe decision for summer

Manchester United’s lack of spending in the January transfer window is a clear sign that they intend to sack Erik ten Hag in the summer.

That’s according to Dutch journalist Valentijn Driessen, who believes the manager is on borrowed time at Manchester United from here on in.

Ten Hag will enter the third and final year of his deal at Old Trafford in the summer, having signed an initial three-year deal when he first joined from Ajax.

Whether his contract is extended at that point remains to be seen, with a solid first year in which they qualified for the Champions League and won the Carabao Cup, their first trophy in five years, currently being followed by a perceived disappointing second season.

That has led to claims Ten Hag may be fighting to prove his long-term value to new part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who has been given control of the sporting side of the club following his partial takeover from the Glazer family.

Driessen, though, does not believe the end of the season will be a Manchester United audition for Ten Hag and instead feels the decision has already been made to go in a different direction.

“Apart from these two matches, I think he is in his last months,” FC Update report him saying on the Kick Off podcast.

“If you had really wanted to continue with this coach, because the organisation is pretty much in place now with that new co-owner Jim Ratcliffe, you would have also given Ten Hag reinforcements to continue building now on a team that has to be there next year and finish in the top-four.

“I assume that is predestined for the new coach, and not Ten Hag. And that they will leave him in place now and only start investing and selling in the summer. Yes, FFP could be an issue, but if you sell a player, you could get quite a bit.”