Man Utd: ‘Four big names to agree early-window’ transfers as INEOS get busy
Jason Wilcox and Sir Dave Brailsford watch a Red Devils match
Four Man Utd players are prepared to agree moves away from the club in early-window departures from the Premier League club, according to reports.
The Red Devils are set for a summer of change after Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS completed a deal to buy 27.7 per cent of Man Utd from the Glazers earlier this year.
As part of the agreement, INEOS were given control of football operations with Ratcliffe looking to overhaul the recruitment department and invest heavily into club infrastructure.
Erik ten Hag’s job looks increasingly under pressure, while Omar Berrada will become the new CEO in the summer and Jason Wilcox has already assumed his role as tehcnical director.
And now Football Insider claims that Man Utd ‘are set to get their Sir Jim Ratcliffe transformation underway with four big name early-window departures’.
Ratcliffe and Wilcox are said to be ‘keen to lower the age of the squad in the off-season’ and they ‘will first look to part with Raphael Varane, Casemiro, Jonny Evans and Christian Eriksen’.
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Their headline reads ‘four big names to agree early-window moves’ with the report adding that Varane and Evans out of contract and Casemiro and Eriksen ‘will need to be bought out of their deals at Old Trafford’.
Former Man Utd assistant manager Rene Meulensteen insists there has been “no progress whatsoever” at Old Trafford under Ten Hag this season with the Red Devils boss failing to establish a style of play.
Meulensteen told NOS: “It is really incomprehensible what is happening now. There is simply no progress whatsoever.
“You know, as a new trainer you always have to deal with a selection that you have not put together yourself. So, it takes a few transfer periods before you get the players you want. I always say: a trainer needs eighteen months to get it right. to get on track.
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“But now there is none of that optimism left. There is no playing style, club culture or philosophy. If you look at the statistics… it doesn’t make any sense. Manchester United has a goal difference of minus three!
“That (boycotting media) is really not smart. The media of course have the right to ask questions. They also see what kind of results are on the board, such as the 4-0 against Crystal Palace. Then it is logical that they ask critical questions.
“There are now just too many players who are either too old or not good enough. Or boys who have the wrong attitude.”
Man Utd warned against appointing Gareth Southgate
And former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan has warned off Man Utd from appointing England manager as their new manager if they choose to sack Ten Hag in the summer.
TalkSPORT presenter Jim White asked Jordan: “I’ll put something to you. If it becomes a shootout between [Erik] ten Hag and [Gareth] Southgate, who wins it?”
To which Jordan responded: “What’s that, is that which disease you’d like to have least? Is that what you’re suggesting? With due respect, what you’re saying is pitch these two individuals against each other as a race to the bottom – in which disease do you want least, which affects you the least.
“Ten Hag to me is only a viable option if there’s something you know behind the scenes that the outside world and its eyes can’t see and don’t know. Over two years, you have to see something that indicates a cultural shift and a premise that is far better than the one you inherited.”