DBasia.news – Erik ten Hag is said to have won the competition for the position of Manchester United manager. However, the search process for the Red Devils turned out to be full of twists and turns.
Manchester United are without a manager after sacking Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in November last year. Having been linked with a number of big names, the English giants finally appointed Ralf Rangnick as caretaker until the end of the season.
Manchester United took this decision for a reason. They seem to want to consider many things before appointing a new manager.
According to an ESPN report, eight tacticians are on the list of candidates for this job. Ten Hag is included.
Before firing Solskjaer, Manchester United had been linked with Antonio Conte. But the man who is now dealing with Tottenham Hotspur is not included in the list of candidates.
From the same report, Manchester United had seriously considered appointing Brendan Rodgers as a replacement for Solskjaer. However, this desire was canceled as Leicester City’s performance declined sharply.
The names of Mauricio Pochettino, Julian Nagelsmann, Thomas Tuchel, Zinedine Zidane, and Ten Hag then became the main target. However, Manchester United are aware of the difficulty of signing them in the middle of the season.
Pochettino, Nagelsmann, Tuchel and Ten Hag are still under contract with other clubs. While Zidane still wants to rest after separating from Real Madrid.
Appointing Rangnick as caretaker or interim manager until the end of the season was finally chosen by Manchester United. They can use the remaining time to select more stringently the best candidate list.
In the process, two new candidates emerged. They are Luis Enrique and Julen Lopetegui.
Enrique is said to be one of the favorites of Manchester United’s officials. However, he is unavailable until the end of the year as he is focused on leading the Spanish national team at the 2022 World Cup.
While Lopetegui’s ability is still in doubt. Manchester United fears that his fate will not be much different from Unai Emery’s when he handled Arsenal.
In the end, Ten Hag and Pochettino became the two leading candidates remaining. Both are even willing to undergo an interview session that proves their interest in this job.
Ten Hag became a favorite choice of supporters due to his track record at Ajax Amsterdam. Meanwhile, a number of Manchester United legends support Mauricio Pochettino, who is considered more experienced.
Manchester United finally made their choice to Ten Hag. Both parties are said to have entered into an agreement and will be formalized in the near future.
It turns out that there are two strong reasons why Manchester United did not choose Pochettino. In addition to the large compensation costs that Paris Saint-Germain are very likely to ask for, the Argentinean is in fact also interested in Real Madrid.
Those two things made Manchester United sure to choose Ten Hag.