Erik ten Hag is ‘surprised’ by Manchester United’s lack of transfer activity in the window so far and was expecting the club to have made several signings by now, according to reports.
The Dutchman took over the reins at Old Trafford earlier this summer in what was expected to herald a complete overhaul of the playing squad, partly necessitated by the departure of a host of senior, first-team players.
Paul Pogba, Juan Mata, Edinson Cavani, Nemanja Matic and Jesse Lingard, among others, have all left the club on free transfers.
Previous interim manager Ralf Rangnick had suggested that exodus would see as many as eight or even 10 new players arrive in the summer, but so far Ten Hag has yet to land a single summer signing.
According to The Mirror, the former Ajax boss has been surprised by the lack of progress United’s hierarchy have made to replenish the depleted squad he inherited – one which scrapped to a sixth-place finish last season.
Ten Hag had hoped to have several new faces in place by now, but is facing a race against time just to get a single transfer completed before pre-season starts.
There is an expectation that things will start to gather pace in the coming days, with a deal for Frenkie de Jong progressing and Barcelona in need of the cash before the end of the month.
But that is the only transfer that is at an advanced stage and in a further blow to Ten Hag, his hopes of pairing De Jong with another former Ajax academy starlet, Christian Eriksen, remain in limbo.
In a clear sign of the lack of pull United currently have, the Danish playmaker – who is a free agent – is yet to be convinced about joining the Red Devils and continues to lean towards renewing his deal with Brentford.
Eriksen is in no rush and intends to see how the clubs interested in him strengthen over the summer, but so far United have not strengthened at all – in fact, they are considerably weaker as things stand.
Ten Hag is due back in Manchester this coming week to get preparations in place for the start of pre-season and there is an expectation that United’s transfer business will start to ramp up.
But they are now playing catch up compared to many of their rivals, with Liverpool having completed their transfer business after landing Darwin Nunez and Manchester City closing in on Kalvin Phillips to add to their capture of Erling Haaland.
Tottenham have also strengthened, signing Yves Bissouma and Ivan Perisic, while Arsenal have wrapped up a deal for Fabio Vieira and are on the verge of landing Gabriel Jesus.
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