Manchester United may have made Manchester City’s mistake for them once again by appointing Erik ten Hag as manager last season, following a string of failures. The Dutchman is under intense scrutiny after undoing a promising start to his reign with one of United’s worst-ever starts to a season.
After appointing experience in David Moyes, Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho and inexperience in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, United seemingly struck gold with Ten Hag last summer.
For the first time since Sir Alex Ferguson’s 2013 retirement, many supporters felt confident that they finally had a modern manager to rival Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola’s era of dominance.
Ten Hag’s stocks were so high before his Old Trafford arrival that Manchester City had reportedly shortlisted him as Guardiola’s potential replacement.
His reputation improved by becoming the joint-quickest United boss to reach 50 wins after ending the club’s six-year trophy drought for the first time by lifting the Carabao Cup in February.
Between those milestones, he guided the Red Devils to an FA Cup final and secured a Champions League return by finishing third in the Premier League.
However, his progress has begun to regress this season. Ten Hag has overseen 12 defeats in 24 games and early elimination in the Carabao Cup and Champions League.
And with incoming investor Sir Jim Ratcliffe reportedly weighing up whether to sack the 53-year-old once his £1.3billion deal for a 25 per cent stake in United is ratified, City may be left laughing again.
It wouldn’t be the first time United have thwarted their bitter rivals’ plans in the player and managerial markets.
In January 2018, Jose Mourinho hijacked City’s reported interest in Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez by handing him a four-and-a-half-year contract worth £14m annually.
The Chilean forward’s arrival was met with vast excitement, and beating the Cityzens to his signature by offering more money was a bonus.
However, Alexis’ five goals in 45 appearances made it a blessing in disguise for Guardiola. United didn’t learn from their mistakes in the summer of 2019.
City were huge admirers of Harry Maguire while he was at Leicester City and were weighing up a move in the summer of 2019.
But United swept in with a world-record £80m bid to blow their rivals out of the water. Maguire’s enjoying a renaissance this season, but his Old Trafford career has been worth nothing close to that transfer fee.
Ten Hag is at risk of becoming the latest example, which, at this point, may say more about the environment these individuals enter at United rather than their quality.
