In this article, I will give my opinion on Manchester United’s summer transfer strategy and why I think it is the best road for the club to go down under Erik ten Hag.
During the summer, Man United backed ten Hag in the transfer market, in the sense that they allowed him to have the final say on which players he wanted to bring through the door and so far you can argue that they have those who United signed in the summer have been a success so far.
In the summer, Ten Hag and United recruited, Tyrell Malacia from Feyenoord, Lisandro Martinez from Ajax, Christian Eriksen on a free transfer, Antony from Ajax and Casemiro from Real Madrid.
I think the strategy of backing the manager is the correct one because at the end of the day, he will be the one that selects the final XI that he think is best to win that particular match.
I think the summer strategy was an effective one because it allows ten Hag the opportunity to build the team in his image by recruiting players that suit his style of play, which is a possessional based style of play as he likes his teams to dominate the ball and territory.
I also think this strategy is more effective for United because not only is there clarity on the players that the United manager wants but it enables United to strategically review the profiles of players that they are wanting to purchase, because over the last few years under previous managers, we saw United buying players that did not suit the profile that the club needed at that moment in time.
The ability to give ten Hag authority on transfers also means that the club has a clear plan on what it wants to do in the transfer market and with the input of ten Hag, it allows John Murtough, the club’s football director enough time to sort the deal out swiftly, however, under the Glazers doing deals quickly has been an issue for a long time so hopefully under the new owners we can see United stick with the same strategy but execute it a lot quicker, so we are not having to over pay or rivals do not get the players that we need.