Erik ten Hag has had a pretty productive and solid debut season with Manchester United but there’s a lot for the Dutchman and the club to do before the difficult second album.
Ten Hag secured Champions League football and won United’s first trophy in six years when they defeated Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup final.
Whilst they couldn’t get it done in the FA Cup final against rivals Manchester City, there is no doubt major strides have been made especially when compared to the ending of last year’s campaign.
But after watching City complete the Treble on Saturday, United know they’ve got a big summer ahead of them if they’re going to narrow the gap to Pep Guardiola’s team. We’ve outlined what needs to be done.
The most important thing
It really should be a striker but the Glazer family have allowed the sale of the club to drag on and on so deciding whose hands the future of the club belong in has to be the priority this summer.
It can impact everything else that the club might do and if it’s going to take too long then the Glazers have to make sure that everything doesn’t go stagnant in the interim.
Gary Neville has rightly called out the current owners for delaying the sale and the wait for a preferred bidder is further proof of the Americans’ atrocious and toxic running of the club.
Top transfer target
As previously suggested it’s a no brainer that a striker has to be top of Ten Hag’s shopping list when the transfer window opens on June 16th.
Marcus Rashford scored 17 Premier League goals in the campaign but only eight of them came when he was playing as a central striker. Aside from him Anthony Martial scored six when he wasn’t injured and that’s just not good enough from a number nine.
United can’t afford to let a move for their top target drag on as they did last summer with Frenkie de Jong, even if that did end up accidentally landing them Casemiro.
Who needs to go
Perhaps the most important question at the club every year, with a whole lot of deadwood at Old Trafford still to be shifted, even if much of it has been chucked out in previous years.
Eric Bailly and Alex Telles spent all season out on loan and should be shifted permanently, whilst the very bitter Brandon Williams has no future at the club either.
Donny van de Beek, Anthony Elanga, Scott McTominay, Fred and David de Gea could all realistically be let go if there was enough time and money to replace them all.
Facundo Pellistri and Amad Diallo could both probably do with going out on loan, unless Ten Hag has plans to use them regularly.
Other additions
United look determined to sign Mason Mount from Chelsea and he’ll certainly be more mobile than Christian Eriksen, who struggled to get back to his best post injury.
If it’s not Mount then there’s little doubt that the team still needs to add a quality midfielder to play alongside Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes.
A right back looks less likely than previously with Aaron Wan-Bissaka having a bit of a comeback and Diogo Dalot signing a new deal.
One more thing
United won’t want to compare themselves to Arsenal but they have to at least acknowledge the work that Mikel Arteta has done in north London.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway for the 13 times Premier League winners is how the Gunners have done it with such a young squad.
United don’t have to go that far but they’re probably still a few years away from really challenging for the title consistently so need to think about lowering the age of their squad, especially with the likes of Casemiro, Eriksen and Raphael Varane making up their spine.
It’s one of the issues around pushing for Kane rather than going for someone younger, especially as the team’s recent strikers have been Edinson Cavani, Cristiano Ronaldo and Odion Ighalo.
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