Manchester United’s new head coach Erik ten Hag will miss Dutch champions Ajax’s post-season trip to Curacao to start working on Manchester United on Monday as he turns his attention to next season at Old Trafford. The incoming Manchester United boss oversaw a 2-2 draw with Vitesse on Sunday in his final game in charge.
Erik ten Hag will take over from Ralf Rangnick at the end of the season but is keen to start his preparations from now. He said: “There’s a lot of work that still needs to be done.” The 52-year-old also said: “I think that’s understandable. This applies to every new club.” “Several things still need to be organized with the staff and also with the squad. We will be working intensively on that from [Monday].”
Ajax is travelling to Curacao as part of sponsorship commitments and will play a friendly with the national team. Manchester United will play Crystal Palace on Sunday, 22 May for their final game of the season as they look to secure a top-six finish. Ten Hag may attend that match and then subsequently travel to Manchester.
The Premier League club has had a long-standing desire to bring in a central midfield player – but the search for recruits is likely to be expanded significantly given interim boss Ralf Rangnick has spoken of 10 additions potentially being needed given the number of players set to leave the club this summer, including Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard and Edinson Cavani.
Ten Hag’s assistant Mitchell van der Gaag and former England boss and United assistant manager Steve McClaren, who worked with Ten Haag at FC Twente, was also understood to be present at the meeting. Manchester United is still to formally announce who will work with the Dutchman at Old Trafford.
It is believed the Dutchman has already decided to bring his non-international players back for pre-season training two weeks earlier than initially planned, meaning they should have built up their fitness ahead of a summer trip to Thailand and his first match in charge against Champions League finalists Liverpool on 12 July and Australia.