Marco van Basten has urged Manchester United to stick with Erik ten Hag, believing he is the right man to take the club to ‘a higher level’.
Ten Hag’s time at Old Trafford looked to be up following a dreadful Premier League campaign but Saturday’s superb FA Cup final victory over Manchester City could yet see him handed a reprieve.
Ten Hag’s position remains under threat but the club are currently conducting a final season review this week that will decide his fate.
While United have held talks with the representatives of possible replacements, including Mauricio Pochettino and Thomas Frank, no decision over ten Hag’s future has been made yet.
While this season’s eighth place finish is United’s worst in 34 years, ten Hag has now won two trophies in his first two years at the club, following up on last season’s Carabao Cup success.
Dutch legend van Basten believes ten Hag has made his share of mistakes, particularly in the transfer market, but he believes United would be making a mistake in replacing him this summer.
‘It was not a good match, but it is great that he managed to win against City with such a limited team,’ Van Basten told Rondo.
‘Despite few opportunities with the players, he was still able to win the FA Cup, which was very important. As a result, they play European football. I think he is still the former man to get something done with Manchester United to box. I think they should give him time.”
‘I know from Ajax that he is a good trainer. He did well at FC Utrecht, and at Go Ahead Eagles. He is someone who can build, who can make a team stronger.
‘But you have to be lucky that you have a good group. He has, and That is a mistake on his part, he bought many players for a lot of money, who did not perform well. That is the job of a technical director, he took on too much.’
Ten Hag’s options this season have been limited by a string of injury problems in defence, naming 15 different centre-half combinations over the course of the 2023-24 campaign.
‘I do think he is capable of taking Manchester to a higher level. And that takes time, especially with a year like this, in which they have had to play so often with a different composition,’ van Basten said.
‘Then you could say That he has to take care of that himself, but there were just a lot of injuries. I think you have to take that into account.’
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