Ex-Man Utd star Anthony Elanga responds to claims Erik ten Hag forced him out of club

Anthony Elanga has explained why he decided to leave Manchester United for Nottingham Forest.

Elanga signed a five-year contract with Forest in July after they agreed to pay United £15million for his services. The Sweden international came through the United academy and made 55 appearances for the first team, contributing four goals and four assists.

He made his breakthrough under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, but found things more difficult under Erik ten Hag’s management, starting just five times in the Premier League last season and failing to score. The 21-year-old has made a good start at Forest, with five goals and six assists in 25 games and is pleased with his decision to leave his boyhood club.

“Was Ten Hag the reason I left United? No, I wouldn’t say that,” Elanga told SoccerNews.nl. “I just wanted to play, that was especially important to me. I’m young and I don’t want to sit on the bench all season, you know? When you’re young you want to play, you want to make mistakes, you want to take risks. But he wasn’t the reason for my leaving. There I mainly focused on myself, not on others.”

Elanga raised eyebrows in December when he said Forest’s 2-1 win over United was “personal” due to struggles in the 2022/23 season at his old club. He feels he has proven himself at Forest after failing to earn many opportunities under Ten Hag, but a few months down the road he has a measured opinion of Ten Hag.

“Of course I also saw what he did at Ajax,” he said. “But when you come to England everything is different. He has improved several players, for example Ryan Gravenberch, who now plays for Liverpool. But I just wanted to take my chance and go somewhere else. And that was a good decision, because I am enjoying myself at Forest.”

Anthony Elanga of Manchester United and Erik ten Hag of Manchester United

Elanga’s struggles came partly due to the competition in wide positions at United, with Marcus Rashford, Antony, Jadon Sancho, Alejandro Garnacho and Facundo Pellistri among the options available to Ten Hag. Antony’s arrival from Ajax for £86m in the summer of 2022 was a particular blow to Elanga, but he refused to lay the blame on the Brazilian.

“Antony is a great player and a beautiful person,” he said. “We had a lot of contact when I was at United and we still talk sometimes now. I am confident that he will score a lot of goals there, I could already see that during the training sessions. I believe in God and he told me to go to Nottingham and Antony is still at United. But he will really be successful there.”

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