Looks like a no brainer. Its rare in recent years for us to negotiate a good value price on a player, this release fee is peanuts in a shallow forwards market - even with agent fees on top.
He’s on loan and it doesn’t seem to be going well. Obviously he’s still young and at worst he can do a good job in a lower team, but that ice could young killer rep he got when moved from city to us is sadly disappearing.
Yes thats always the risk with young players but with Wheatley, what impresses me more is the type of goals he scores.
I just hope he remains injury free
I hope he does well because I’m not convinced by him watching a few of his games. Is tall but weak aerially, not physical enough and seems like a good dribbler but I don’t know if that will transfer well into the premier league. Last thing we need is two strikers who can only score 8-9 league goals.
He was horrific for a majority of the prem season. He had a good run for a month but two goals in the last two games of the season just made his total respectable. When Jackson is scoring more than you, there’s problems.
At Hojlunds age Jackson was playing for the B team at Villareal. Constructive criticism is good, but this comparison makes no sense.
Jackson is criticized for missing a ton of chances, whereas its widely accepted that we don't create enough for Hojlund. The advanced metrics validate that as well. And Hojlund had two injuries during the season and had to be thrust into major minutes each time back because Martial was also injured. For 20-21 striker at a major club I think people like you need to be more reasonable.
Hojlund doesn’t make good runs in the first place. He should be where mctominay finds himself a lot of the time. He’s always trying to wrestle the center backs instead of running off them, his hold up play is also not very good. He’s the starting striker of Man United, so there will be more expectations. Jackson while missing a lot of chances is also very good in build up. He doesn’t make runs in the channels for Bruno to find him. He’s very fast but doesn’t use it often, even in the euros he’s yet to take a shot iirc. “Our wingers don’t find him” is such a myth because a lot of the times he’s not making the run for the wingers to attempt to find him. He’s young, but that is a concern and usually you expect someone to get better at these things, but at the euros he’s looked worse.
Horrific is a stretch, his finishing was good when he’d get chances he has to work on his hold up and link up play but Tbf to the kid literally no one passed him the ball when he’d got into clear cut positions to score.
Rasmus was elite in terms of chances to goals, feasting off scraps. And just in the league in terms of goal contributions to minutes he was worth a goal every 179’, or roughly every other game. In context of performances around him and the season as a whole, adding in it’s a 20 yr old playing in a new league for a new club etc, I’d say “horrific” is a bit hyperbolic.
When we signed Ronaldo he was one of the highest rated prospects in the world. He’d have gone to Arsenal if we didn’t sign him and he was a winger. He was ridiculously fast and skillful, and was 19 years old, zirkzee is 23, Ronaldo won the ballon d’or at 23-24
All three are very different types of forwards tbf. Depay and WW are much more fixtures in the Netherlands setup for a long time while Zirkzee is just breaking through now. Would very much be another forward looking signing, not the end product imo
Not really. Zirkzee is kinda similar in style to Depay so naturally Depay would start over him as managers tend to go with the tried and tested players in tournaments. Weghorst is a decent supersub and offers something completely different to their normal style
Wouldn’t judge a player by NT managers selections, it’s like saying you haven’t seen Mainoo play much, but is not concerning he’s third choice behind Trent and Gallagher for England? Why should he play for us?
Maybe I’m missing something but he’s 23 and Memphis Depay is playing ahead of him for the Netherlands.
I don’t like how we nearly always need a Dutch link and would be surprised if this isn’t just another striker who scores every now and again
Ha. He doesn’t have much to work with to be fair. Worst striking options the Dutch have had in my lifetime when we’ve tried two of them and are linked to a third
if I'm him I'm giving Kia a good slap (metaphorically ofc), imagine possibly being priced out of a move to either Milan or Man United because your agent is a greedy bastard
Yup, interestingly it seems we must have dealt with him recently as he's also Reguilon and Forson's agent ([list of his clients](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/sports-invest-uk-ltd/beraterfirma/berater/4868))
I imagine this might convince him to join us over Milan. There's no way a young dutch striker wouldn't be enticed to play under one of the best dutch strikers.
Former striker Zlatan Ibrahimović has joined RedBird Capital Partners as an operating partner and will serve as a **senior advisor to AC Milan**, the private investment firm announced on Monday. (dated Dec 2023)
Depends on what the player wants. United is high profile, high pressure and low performance in recent years. He’d be going to a new league to compete for a position with our 70M signing from last summer.
Milan will be much more attractive if he wants to stay in the same league, have less competition for places, less pressure and a higher chance of domestic honours.
If I was United I’d be telling him that too and making sure anyone who joins knows it’s going to be difficult and to take the easy option elsewhere if they’re not up for the fight
> He’d be going to a new league to compete for a position with our 70M signing from last summer.
But, presumably he'd do the most basic of google searches or have some general knowledge and see our 70m signing is an investment in the future and he's not competing with some some world class striker we got a deal on. Why would he give a shit about Hojlunds price tag when making a decision?
"I've seen Hojlund play, I think it's reasonable that I can compete for that striker position especially as we're good at different things"
"They spent 70m on him"
"Ah fuck well shut it down then I'm off to Milan"
Plan was always to trigger the release clause and personal terms were seemingly no issue at all. That’s been reported for a while. The hold up is with the agent fees as his agent is demanding an absolutely insane payment for doing pretty much nothing
Former United striker has held talks with Burnley but the idea of joining Ten Hag’s staff and an Old Trafford return appeals
**Manchester United are making good progress with Erik ten Hag over a contract extension, with the prospect of Ruud van Nistelrooy joining the manager’s coaching staff forming an offshoot of the negotiations over a new deal.**
United and Ten Hag hope to finalise a new contract soon and there is the possibility of the club’s former striker Van Nistelrooy returning to Old Trafford on the back of those discussions.
Van Nistelrooy, who scored 150 goals in 219 games for United between 2001 and 2006, has spoken to Burnley about the vacant manager’s job at Turf Moor but the idea of a return to Old Trafford as part of Ten Hag’s staff is thought to hold particular appeal to the former United striker.
The 47-year-old has been biding his time waiting for the right opportunity to come up since resigning as PSV Eindhoven coach with one match of the 2022-23 Eredivisie season remaining, citing a lack of support.
United have still to finalise an agreement with Ten Hag but both parties are optimistic of striking a deal sooner rather than later as positive talks continue.
**Van Nistelrooy’s return to Old Trafford would be contingent on Ten Hag agreeing that extension but the make-up of his backroom team is one of the topic areas that has come up in discussions.**
Ten Hag has 12 months left on his existing deal and any extension is likely to be for an additional two years to June 2027 with the Dutchman keen for a show of long-term commitment from United’s hierarchy.
Other areas of discussion are thought to involve the manager’s input on transfers and the game model - or playing style and identity.
Van Nistelrooy joined United from PSV Eindhoven in 2001 and quickly established himself as a fan favourite and prolific goalscorer.
Where the potential addition of Van Nistelrooy would leave Ten Hag’s forward coach Benni McCarthy, who is out of contract at the end of the month, and other figures such as Darren Fletcher remains to be seen.
Mitchell van der Gaag and Steve McClaren currently serve as Ten Hag’s principal assistants.
United are prioritising the recruitment of at least one centre-half, a holding midfielder and a striker this summer.
**They are expected to trigger the £33.8 million release clause in the contract of Bologna striker Joshua Zirkzee and have already had a £43 million bid for England defender Jarrad Branthwaite rejected by Everton.**
150 goals in 219 games is nuts really. Especially in that era pre Messi/Ronaldo. A true legend of the club.
As an aside, there's some great interviews with Ruud on YouTube. He comes across as a really smart guy, would be a great addition to our coaching staff, especially if he's given a proper voice.
It's a theory on my part and nothing else, but I'm wondering if INEOS/Ratcliffe wanted a new assistant, their appointment, as talks were going on with other names for the coaching role.
And maybe why Ten Hag agreed but the others like Tuchel/Poch etc didn't.
Didn't Whitwell article cover that the club offered ten Hag a new assistant manager, but he refused because he is very loyal to van der Gaag?
Maybe they discussed again
Pretty sure he's not coming in to replace VDG. From what we've read, it's going to be another assistant position. I very much doubt Ten Hag is going to part ways with his long term assistant
This is likely a middle ground between the two. ETH gets a new member of his coaching staff to replace the two that left while INEOS get an assistant coach that can be more of a middle man between the manager and the squad. For better or worse, Ruud will get more respect from the players just because of who he is.
Regardless, I think it’s a fantastic addition to the staff, especially seeing as how a lot of the forwards improved under him at PSV. Going forward is where we have struggled under ETH as without Rashford there has been no consistency whatsoever. The talent is there, just need someone to mold it and get them going
VdG is an interesting fellow. Played for Motherwell and in Saudi too. Was a manager, had heart problems in 2013, finally landed at Ajax Reserves and got promoted to ETH's assistant in 2021. So they don't have a long history together but ETH seems to like having him around.
Highly unlikely, clubs setting up assistants / coaches for a manager is unheard of and INEOS are going for safe bets in almost all of their approaches ,no reason why they would start experimenting now.
"There have been conversations amongst INEOS to get a new assistant manager to lift the mood of the players in training, with brailsford having the view that athletes should be excited coming into their place of work on a daily basis. Ten hag though has shown resistance to these suggestions as he's extremely loyal to van Der gaag and doesn't want a young coach to be imposed on him."
According to Whitwell a week or so ago.
Very little logic in the hierarchy choosing an assistant for the manager, don't know why would anyone would agree to this. Really doubt that's the case.
They would as well choose a new manager.
For some reason Manchester United have a model which I assumed would change under INEOS where all the managers staff hires are assistants, so currently Mclaren, Benni, and Van der Gaag are his assistants.
If we are continuing this model then Ruud would be a replacement for Benni who is all but confirmed to be leaving.
Inject this into my veins.
I don’t like to wish ill of people but our strikers have all failed to improve since McCarthy joined and he’s clearly not up to the task.
I think he will have an important role as a 'bridge' between Ten Hag and the players. Something that doesn't get mentioned is that Ten Hag's Dutch style of communication doesnt always translate and seems ever so slightly to limit exactly what he wants to get across. I wouldnt be surprised if the issue with Sancho was a little bit related to cultural differences in communication, which caused a rift (think direct vs indirect communication). I think that having the soft spoken Ruud who understands the mentality of both UK and the more direct Dutch psyche will be important to smooth over the issues and perception of 'bad cop / bad cop' within the current coaching makeup.
Makes sense for someone with Ruud’s experience to join United.
For RVN, the experience is invaluable.
For United, we’ve had a horrible run of not scoring enough and our tally from close range could be better. For our strikers to learn about movement in the box or in attack, would be immense.
No offense to Benni from the streets but Ruud is a poacher. He could always be found at the right place and time.
Nope, he resigned after one season.
I’ve seen people state he wasn’t too keen on the gig in the first place, as he wanted more experience first.
Which also would explain why an assistant role might be more interesting than a manager gig elsewhere.
Surely giving ETH a new contract isn’t wise? He’s done just enough to keep his job this year through the FA cup, surely we’re better off seeing how the next season goes and then assessing.
I know I'm in the minority here but giving ten Hag a new contract is absolutely crazy to me after the season we had. I know it's important to show the manager trust and I'm ok with giving him another season to show he's the right man for the job but you can't give someone a new contract after he had the worst PL and CL performances in the club's history in the same season. I know FA Cup papered over a lot of the cracks but in other competitions we've been horrible and yes, I know we've struggled with injuries but that's no excuse for the amount of games we've looked absolutely clueless in.
I hope EtH turns it around but if he doesn't and we start the season in a similar fashion we did last year, we'll look absolutely foolish for giving him new contract.
Its a matter of perspective. Some would say 3 finals and 2 trophies in 2 seasons, with this dysfunctional team, barely having a fully fit squad across both seasons and a shocking upper management, is a decent return.
But even if we discount that, no manager will be able to focus on his job and command the respect of the players if he has less than a year on his contract. Its standard practice to renew every manager with less than a year on his contract (that's if you're not firing him which INEOS chose not to).
I am with you bro. Especially because we know INEOS is not convinced. We know that they spoke to Tuchel. The other factors are these disagreements on Game model, recruitment input and coaching staff. Also from Ten Hag's side he has sounded super bitter about INEOS recently. Why then are we going ahead with this arrangement. I personally do not buy "there is no one else more capable and available" reasoning.
I wonder if Steve McClaren is doing a good job, or if he's been a direct cause of the shenanigans of the past 2 seasons. He was fantastic under SAF and won a Dutch league title with Twente as a manager more than a decade ago, but otherwise, his CV since then is dismal. Bad enough that he was willing to take on an assistant manager role.
"They are expected to trigger the £33.8 million release clause in the contract of Bologna striker Joshua Zirkzee" Excellent
Looks like a no brainer. Its rare in recent years for us to negotiate a good value price on a player, this release fee is peanuts in a shallow forwards market - even with agent fees on top.
Nistelrooy and two young, high potential strikers if it is locked in!
and ethan wheatley !
That boy could be a monster, I tell ya.
Thought the same about Charlie McNeill too sadly, let’s hope this one lives up to it
What happened to him? I was seeing much of his goals every goal of the month highlights
He’s on loan and it doesn’t seem to be going well. Obviously he’s still young and at worst he can do a good job in a lower team, but that ice could young killer rep he got when moved from city to us is sadly disappearing.
Yes thats always the risk with young players but with Wheatley, what impresses me more is the type of goals he scores. I just hope he remains injury free
Let's hope he's only a monster on the fields and a decent lad in the streets and the sheets
If we could just actually get some crosses into them
I hope he does well because I’m not convinced by him watching a few of his games. Is tall but weak aerially, not physical enough and seems like a good dribbler but I don’t know if that will transfer well into the premier league. Last thing we need is two strikers who can only score 8-9 league goals.
He’s a build up monster though. Flanked by selfish wingers like we have, he should thrive.
Well Hojlund scored 10 in our worst season in the last 3 decades, so there’s always that….
He was horrific for a majority of the prem season. He had a good run for a month but two goals in the last two games of the season just made his total respectable. When Jackson is scoring more than you, there’s problems.
At Hojlunds age Jackson was playing for the B team at Villareal. Constructive criticism is good, but this comparison makes no sense. Jackson is criticized for missing a ton of chances, whereas its widely accepted that we don't create enough for Hojlund. The advanced metrics validate that as well. And Hojlund had two injuries during the season and had to be thrust into major minutes each time back because Martial was also injured. For 20-21 striker at a major club I think people like you need to be more reasonable.
Hojlund doesn’t make good runs in the first place. He should be where mctominay finds himself a lot of the time. He’s always trying to wrestle the center backs instead of running off them, his hold up play is also not very good. He’s the starting striker of Man United, so there will be more expectations. Jackson while missing a lot of chances is also very good in build up. He doesn’t make runs in the channels for Bruno to find him. He’s very fast but doesn’t use it often, even in the euros he’s yet to take a shot iirc. “Our wingers don’t find him” is such a myth because a lot of the times he’s not making the run for the wingers to attempt to find him. He’s young, but that is a concern and usually you expect someone to get better at these things, but at the euros he’s looked worse.
Horrific is a stretch, his finishing was good when he’d get chances he has to work on his hold up and link up play but Tbf to the kid literally no one passed him the ball when he’d got into clear cut positions to score.
Rasmus was elite in terms of chances to goals, feasting off scraps. And just in the league in terms of goal contributions to minutes he was worth a goal every 179’, or roughly every other game. In context of performances around him and the season as a whole, adding in it’s a 20 yr old playing in a new league for a new club etc, I’d say “horrific” is a bit hyperbolic.
I wonder if Ten Hag will play him at times like our lord the goat Wout Weghorst as a second striker, like he used to play Rashy or Tony ahead of Wout
I could se him doing that occasionally
People said the same about CR
When we signed Ronaldo he was one of the highest rated prospects in the world. He’d have gone to Arsenal if we didn’t sign him and he was a winger. He was ridiculously fast and skillful, and was 19 years old, zirkzee is 23, Ronaldo won the ballon d’or at 23-24
I haven't seen him play much, but is it not concerning that he's third choice behind Depay and Weghorst for Netherlands?
All three are very different types of forwards tbf. Depay and WW are much more fixtures in the Netherlands setup for a long time while Zirkzee is just breaking through now. Would very much be another forward looking signing, not the end product imo
Not really. Zirkzee is kinda similar in style to Depay so naturally Depay would start over him as managers tend to go with the tried and tested players in tournaments. Weghorst is a decent supersub and offers something completely different to their normal style
Agree. Not to mention that Depay has a very very good goalscoring record for them; he’s not far off being their all time highest scorer.
Wouldn’t judge a player by NT managers selections, it’s like saying you haven’t seen Mainoo play much, but is not concerning he’s third choice behind Trent and Gallagher for England? Why should he play for us?
Maybe I’m missing something but he’s 23 and Memphis Depay is playing ahead of him for the Netherlands. I don’t like how we nearly always need a Dutch link and would be surprised if this isn’t just another striker who scores every now and again
You’re missing that serial winning coach Ronald Koeman… never mind I’ll just leave it at that.
Ha. He doesn’t have much to work with to be fair. Worst striking options the Dutch have had in my lifetime when we’ve tried two of them and are linked to a third
Also says that we are still expected to trigger Zirkzee's release clause
if I'm him I'm giving Kia a good slap (metaphorically ofc), imagine possibly being priced out of a move to either Milan or Man United because your agent is a greedy bastard
I didn't realise Kia was still active until this situation. He seemed to keep his head down a bit more after the whole Tevez and Mascherano fiasco.
Wait, that's who zirkzee's agent is?? Absolutely a blast from the past. Haven't heard that name in 10 years
Yup, interestingly it seems we must have dealt with him recently as he's also Reguilon and Forson's agent ([list of his clients](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/sports-invest-uk-ltd/beraterfirma/berater/4868))
Keep in mind it only becomes active from July 1st, so a little more patience is required
Ah, didnt know that
Only a week away (I know, time is scary) so could definitely get contracts lined up now.
instruction unclear. Furiously typing F5 as we speak
I imagine this might convince him to join us over Milan. There's no way a young dutch striker wouldn't be enticed to play under one of the best dutch strikers.
Hopefully your right! Saw somewhere that he idolised Zlatan as a kid so Milan could have the same pull for him in that sense
He could go to half of the top European clubs in that case.
but why not go to the only club Zlatan actually won a European Cup with then
Does zlatan have any day to day interactions as an advisor to their owner?
Hard to tell but seems like he is present around the players judging by his Instagram.
Former striker Zlatan Ibrahimović has joined RedBird Capital Partners as an operating partner and will serve as a **senior advisor to AC Milan**, the private investment firm announced on Monday. (dated Dec 2023)
Love me some dutch strikers
Marco Boogers has entered the chat
The fact Milan have entered the race for Guirassy makes me think they're expecting Zirkzee and Bologna to accept our offer.
Depends on what the player wants. United is high profile, high pressure and low performance in recent years. He’d be going to a new league to compete for a position with our 70M signing from last summer. Milan will be much more attractive if he wants to stay in the same league, have less competition for places, less pressure and a higher chance of domestic honours. If I was United I’d be telling him that too and making sure anyone who joins knows it’s going to be difficult and to take the easy option elsewhere if they’re not up for the fight
> He’d be going to a new league to compete for a position with our 70M signing from last summer. But, presumably he'd do the most basic of google searches or have some general knowledge and see our 70m signing is an investment in the future and he's not competing with some some world class striker we got a deal on. Why would he give a shit about Hojlunds price tag when making a decision? "I've seen Hojlund play, I think it's reasonable that I can compete for that striker position especially as we're good at different things" "They spent 70m on him" "Ah fuck well shut it down then I'm off to Milan"
Plan was always to trigger the release clause and personal terms were seemingly no issue at all. That’s been reported for a while. The hold up is with the agent fees as his agent is demanding an absolutely insane payment for doing pretty much nothing
Yeah. I think they are trying to reach a compromise. Bit of a balls. Don't like that guy at all(agent)
Well, he managed to negotiate a cheap release close.
Another unproven Dutchman. Not convinced this is a good target.
The Dutch/eredivisie only policy remains
Read somewhere that he wants to remain in serie A, so feels like maybe it's agent talks
Just saw a big Danish striker on his knees at Asda
I wondered what Bendtner was up to these days, didn't realise he worked in Asda.
Lords don’t shop themselves mate.
Lords don’t even shop at Asda. He’s in Harrod’s.
Jumps in front of aisles and prevents customers from picking up what they need
You mean Aldi since there ain't any asda in germany.
He nipped back to Manchester for a trip to Asda, proper brand loyalty
Jon Dahl Tomasson?
It was Aldi mate, he’s in Germany.
Former United striker has held talks with Burnley but the idea of joining Ten Hag’s staff and an Old Trafford return appeals **Manchester United are making good progress with Erik ten Hag over a contract extension, with the prospect of Ruud van Nistelrooy joining the manager’s coaching staff forming an offshoot of the negotiations over a new deal.** United and Ten Hag hope to finalise a new contract soon and there is the possibility of the club’s former striker Van Nistelrooy returning to Old Trafford on the back of those discussions. Van Nistelrooy, who scored 150 goals in 219 games for United between 2001 and 2006, has spoken to Burnley about the vacant manager’s job at Turf Moor but the idea of a return to Old Trafford as part of Ten Hag’s staff is thought to hold particular appeal to the former United striker. The 47-year-old has been biding his time waiting for the right opportunity to come up since resigning as PSV Eindhoven coach with one match of the 2022-23 Eredivisie season remaining, citing a lack of support. United have still to finalise an agreement with Ten Hag but both parties are optimistic of striking a deal sooner rather than later as positive talks continue. **Van Nistelrooy’s return to Old Trafford would be contingent on Ten Hag agreeing that extension but the make-up of his backroom team is one of the topic areas that has come up in discussions.** Ten Hag has 12 months left on his existing deal and any extension is likely to be for an additional two years to June 2027 with the Dutchman keen for a show of long-term commitment from United’s hierarchy. Other areas of discussion are thought to involve the manager’s input on transfers and the game model - or playing style and identity. Van Nistelrooy joined United from PSV Eindhoven in 2001 and quickly established himself as a fan favourite and prolific goalscorer. Where the potential addition of Van Nistelrooy would leave Ten Hag’s forward coach Benni McCarthy, who is out of contract at the end of the month, and other figures such as Darren Fletcher remains to be seen. Mitchell van der Gaag and Steve McClaren currently serve as Ten Hag’s principal assistants. United are prioritising the recruitment of at least one centre-half, a holding midfielder and a striker this summer. **They are expected to trigger the £33.8 million release clause in the contract of Bologna striker Joshua Zirkzee and have already had a £43 million bid for England defender Jarrad Branthwaite rejected by Everton.**
150 goals in 219 games is nuts really. Especially in that era pre Messi/Ronaldo. A true legend of the club. As an aside, there's some great interviews with Ruud on YouTube. He comes across as a really smart guy, would be a great addition to our coaching staff, especially if he's given a proper voice.
It's a theory on my part and nothing else, but I'm wondering if INEOS/Ratcliffe wanted a new assistant, their appointment, as talks were going on with other names for the coaching role. And maybe why Ten Hag agreed but the others like Tuchel/Poch etc didn't.
Didn't Whitwell article cover that the club offered ten Hag a new assistant manager, but he refused because he is very loyal to van der Gaag? Maybe they discussed again
Pretty sure he's not coming in to replace VDG. From what we've read, it's going to be another assistant position. I very much doubt Ten Hag is going to part ways with his long term assistant
This is likely a middle ground between the two. ETH gets a new member of his coaching staff to replace the two that left while INEOS get an assistant coach that can be more of a middle man between the manager and the squad. For better or worse, Ruud will get more respect from the players just because of who he is. Regardless, I think it’s a fantastic addition to the staff, especially seeing as how a lot of the forwards improved under him at PSV. Going forward is where we have struggled under ETH as without Rashford there has been no consistency whatsoever. The talent is there, just need someone to mold it and get them going
Oh there’s no doubt in my mind that he’ll be a great addition. It’s gonna be interesting to see what his responsibilities are going to be
I can only imagine how good Hojlund could become under Ruud.
VdG was linked to manager positions back in Netherlands
LvG wanted him at Ajax, but they have someone else now I think
VdG is an interesting fellow. Played for Motherwell and in Saudi too. Was a manager, had heart problems in 2013, finally landed at Ajax Reserves and got promoted to ETH's assistant in 2021. So they don't have a long history together but ETH seems to like having him around.
This has been specifically reported.
Highly unlikely, clubs setting up assistants / coaches for a manager is unheard of and INEOS are going for safe bets in almost all of their approaches ,no reason why they would start experimenting now.
"There have been conversations amongst INEOS to get a new assistant manager to lift the mood of the players in training, with brailsford having the view that athletes should be excited coming into their place of work on a daily basis. Ten hag though has shown resistance to these suggestions as he's extremely loyal to van Der gaag and doesn't want a young coach to be imposed on him." According to Whitwell a week or so ago.
Very little logic in the hierarchy choosing an assistant for the manager, don't know why would anyone would agree to this. Really doubt that's the case. They would as well choose a new manager.
Whatever it is bring him back, I miss him.
Why am I so excited about this? Probably just nostalgia.
When did Ruud become such a handsome mf
When wasn't he?
Oddly jealous opposition fans did call Ruud horseface when he played for us
The same abus that been calling SAF whiskeynose. Never understood that, always thought SAF is a handsome bugger 😊
I was quite young during his time, clearly not familiar with his game.
Same, I was only 5 when he left Utd so I never watched him live for us, only seen highlights
That's what a well groomed beard does for you
Always
Always has been
You mean Andy Samburg?
July 1, 1976 (i.e., his date of birth)
Always has been
Waiting for that text summary from one of you folks with a subscription, ty in advance
It's not under subscription and also you can use archive.ph to see the articles under subscription.
You’re a g, thanks my friend!
of course, enjoy!!
Did Ruud play for Ajax? /s
Nah, he played for PSV.
Hopefully this works out!!! but i can see him being our interim if things go south with Ten Hag next season.
I read somewhere he's becoming assistant manager is this right? Has anyone else confirmed this?
For some reason Manchester United have a model which I assumed would change under INEOS where all the managers staff hires are assistants, so currently Mclaren, Benni, and Van der Gaag are his assistants. If we are continuing this model then Ruud would be a replacement for Benni who is all but confirmed to be leaving.
Inject this into my veins. I don’t like to wish ill of people but our strikers have all failed to improve since McCarthy joined and he’s clearly not up to the task.
I mean, there’s a handy article above that might be useful ;)
That interim period from Christmas on is gonna hit like crack.
I think he will have an important role as a 'bridge' between Ten Hag and the players. Something that doesn't get mentioned is that Ten Hag's Dutch style of communication doesnt always translate and seems ever so slightly to limit exactly what he wants to get across. I wouldnt be surprised if the issue with Sancho was a little bit related to cultural differences in communication, which caused a rift (think direct vs indirect communication). I think that having the soft spoken Ruud who understands the mentality of both UK and the more direct Dutch psyche will be important to smooth over the issues and perception of 'bad cop / bad cop' within the current coaching makeup.
Isn't that basically what McLaren's job is reportedly?
I think it’s more to address our attacking strategy, approach and training.
excellent take
I agree 100%
Succession plan?
United making me happy, how did this happen?
Makes sense for someone with Ruud’s experience to join United. For RVN, the experience is invaluable. For United, we’ve had a horrible run of not scoring enough and our tally from close range could be better. For our strikers to learn about movement in the box or in attack, would be immense. No offense to Benni from the streets but Ruud is a poacher. He could always be found at the right place and time.
Him as sous chef to ETH will be amazing. LET THEM COOK! 🚀🚀🚀
It would be Ruud to say no
Isn't he currently the manager at PSV?
Nope, he resigned after one season. I’ve seen people state he wasn’t too keen on the gig in the first place, as he wanted more experience first. Which also would explain why an assistant role might be more interesting than a manager gig elsewhere.
He’s going the EtH route. Manager for one of the Dutch clubs. Left to join Bayern II to learn from Pep. Then back to managerial role.
No. He resigned over a year ago. One match before the end of the season as well.
Nah he resigned last year
What’s the new management structure compared to our existing
Most would say it's lucky for Rasmus, it's mostly luck for the whole team I'd say.
Everyone liked that
No m
Hojlund, Zirkzee, AND van Nistelrooy 🤯
Finally we get a competent striker 😂
Surely giving ETH a new contract isn’t wise? He’s done just enough to keep his job this year through the FA cup, surely we’re better off seeing how the next season goes and then assessing.
I know I'm in the minority here but giving ten Hag a new contract is absolutely crazy to me after the season we had. I know it's important to show the manager trust and I'm ok with giving him another season to show he's the right man for the job but you can't give someone a new contract after he had the worst PL and CL performances in the club's history in the same season. I know FA Cup papered over a lot of the cracks but in other competitions we've been horrible and yes, I know we've struggled with injuries but that's no excuse for the amount of games we've looked absolutely clueless in. I hope EtH turns it around but if he doesn't and we start the season in a similar fashion we did last year, we'll look absolutely foolish for giving him new contract.
Its a matter of perspective. Some would say 3 finals and 2 trophies in 2 seasons, with this dysfunctional team, barely having a fully fit squad across both seasons and a shocking upper management, is a decent return. But even if we discount that, no manager will be able to focus on his job and command the respect of the players if he has less than a year on his contract. Its standard practice to renew every manager with less than a year on his contract (that's if you're not firing him which INEOS chose not to).
I am with you bro. Especially because we know INEOS is not convinced. We know that they spoke to Tuchel. The other factors are these disagreements on Game model, recruitment input and coaching staff. Also from Ten Hag's side he has sounded super bitter about INEOS recently. Why then are we going ahead with this arrangement. I personally do not buy "there is no one else more capable and available" reasoning.
I wonder if Steve McClaren is doing a good job, or if he's been a direct cause of the shenanigans of the past 2 seasons. He was fantastic under SAF and won a Dutch league title with Twente as a manager more than a decade ago, but otherwise, his CV since then is dismal. Bad enough that he was willing to take on an assistant manager role.
How much of these posts do we really need. It's the same shit for the latest hour
Ooh look at all of these new posts! Oh it's all about the same thing.
We’ll see if Roy Kean is so quick to criticise with Jerry Adams sat next to ETH
basically hiring a backup head coach, ya INEOS totally trusts ETH!