Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag signed a one-year contract extension this summer - but the club are already sounding out his replacement
Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag(Image credit: Getty Images)
The first half of Manchester United’s summer was dominated by speculation over the future of boss Erik ten Hag.
Eventually, amid reports that the likes of Thomas Tuchel had been sounded out, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his Ineos team opted to stick with the Dutchman, who lifted the FA Cup at the end of the season, following the club’s worst-ever Premier League finish
While the subsequent one-year contract extension signed by Ten Hag was not the biggest show of faith the club could have handed the manager, he did see £200million’s worth of talent added to the squad over the summer, which included the signing of two of his former Ajax players in Mattijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui.
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But given the level of this summer’s investment and memory of last season’s eighth-placed Premier League finish, Ten Hag will know that a strong campaign will be needed if he is to avoid the pressure being cranked up over the coming months.
Reports from Italy that the Red Devils are interested in Italian boss Massimiliano Allegriare likely to therefore concern the Dutchman.
According to Calciomercato, Manchester United are have sounded out the former AC Milan and Juventus boss, who is currently out of work since he was sacked by Juve in the summer.
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Former Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri
The report claims that overtures have been made to the coach, who is said to have admirers at Old Trafford. The 57-year-old Allegri is looking to return to management and does not want to move to Saudi Arabia at this stage of his career.
In FourFourTwo’s opinion, this appears to be something of a speculative report, as Allegri’s sacking came at the end of an underwhelming second spell at Juventus and if the Red Devils were on the lookout for a new boss, much better options would be out there.
For more than a decade Joe Mewis has worked in football journalism as a reporter and editor, with stints at Mirror Football and LeedsLive among others. He is the author of four football history books that include times on Leeds United and the England national team.
