Erik ten Hag said that his players should not be left in the bewilderedness about what happens after their nation is eliminated from the World Cup that is currently taking place in Qatar and that they should be ready to return to the club.
The United manager therefore, expects his players to hit the ground running once they return to Carrington after their World Cup participation is over.
There are currently 11 United players who are currently representing their countries at the World Cup as they get set to do battle at the quarter final stage, and there were four players who were with their nations during the group stages.
However, Alex Telles is ruled out of the tournament because of injury and so far only Hannibal, Christian Eriksen and Facundo Pellistri have experienced elimination, so therefore, they will have time to prepare for competitive action, whilst Hannibal will do likewise as he gets ready to return to Birmingham City.
United return to competitive action in the Carabao Cup against Burnley on the 21st December and the World Cup final is scheduled to take place on the 18th December, which means there is little time to rest and recuperate.
Even though there is no guarantee that any United players competing in the World Cup will feature in the final as their nations still need to qualify, it does leave the players with a tight turnaround should their country make it to the final.
However, should any United player be knocked out of the World Cup during the knockout phase, then they can not take a holiday like they normally would because United are straight into competitive action and that they need to be back on the training pitch. This is something that was made aware to the players by ten Hag and the Dutchman made this clear in his exclusive interview with MUTV [manutd.com].
“We make the players aware of the fact that, after you are out of the World Cup, you have to return to the club and the league immediately goes on.
“You have to be ready for that, but I think our players are used to it. Our players are winners, and they are battling now for the World Cup and in the moment they are out – hopefully one is the winner – they have to deal with that.
“With the success they have, or the defeats, they have to deal with it and of course they have to be ready for another challenge.”
