Erik ten Hag has been confirmed as the next Manchester United manager, but he faces a mounting list of problems to overcome if he is to succeed at Old Trafford.
Ralf Rangnick was appointed to steady the ship after the decline under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, but the German has been unable to assert any meaningful authority or to give the team any kind of overhaul, superficial or fundamental.
That has led to inconsistent performances since the turn of the year and while they might still finish in the top four such is the mediocrity of the teams around them, there is little the Dutchman can do to resolve the situation. He is getting a hospital pass one way or another, the rebuilding job is extensive whether he has Europa League or Champions League football to plan for.
Perhaps the headline concern is the future of Cristiano Ronaldo. After an incredibly difficult week for the Portuguese striker, he has returned to United training and might soon be back in the fold. Ten Hag reportedly does not believe the 36-year-old should be part of the team’s plans for next season, and with his vast wages not quite meeting the goalscoring returns he is delivering, it will be a sensitive and financially difficult situation to deal with, and there will be no immediate benefit to the team.
That last point is linked to the necessity to change United’s approach to the game. Since the arrival of Louis van Gaal, the team have been stilted in possession, and since the appointment of David Moyes before him, they have had no useful attacking coaching. They will go from having no direction to getting instructions from a manager who is supposed to offer focused tactical lessons to his team.
It is not just up front that there are problems with tactics. Aaron Wan-Bissaka has not seriously improved, and Luke Shaw has yet to meaningfully kick on even if he cuts a happier figure than he did under Jose Mourinho. One development that is now close to crisis is how to rehabilitate Harry Maguire, to change him into a player who deserves to retain the captaincy, and to a player who was meant to lead the defence. There is no reason beyond finances that he should be kept on any longer, so there is a compromise that Ten Hag will have to work out.
Not only that, but United have consistently delivered some limp physical displays failing to match the clubs who should be their peers when it comes to sprints and distance run per game. Until Solskjaer they had chronic difficulties with injuries across the squad, so there is an obvious problem with effort and exertion that will need to be resolved after almost a decade of underperformance.
One potential obstacle could offer a solution of a kind. Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic, Juan Mata, Jesse Lingard, Lee Grant and Edinson Cavani will all leave the club in the summer. There is a chance that Mason Greenwood will never play for United, or anyone else, again. Added to those names, perhaps only David de Gea, Raphael Varane, Jadon Sancho and Bruno Fernandes are certain to stay on at the club over the summer. That gives Ten Hag the chance to raise funds and make room in the squad for new arrivals. It is always a risk to buy more than a few players in any transfer window, but such is the poor state of United’s outlook that it would be more of a risk to maintain anything like the status quo.
Nonetheless, while this remains an opportunity to be taken for the club and the incoming manager, it will take an adept hand to make sure United do not make more mistakes.