Man Utd assess De Zerbi | Roberto De Zerbi, Thomas Frank, and Gareth Southgate are being assessed as implicit successors to Erik ten Hag at Manchester United should the Dutch director leave his post at Old Trafford this summer, sources have told.While ESPN sources have said that no decision has been made on Ten Hag’s future by Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos group, who now control football operations at United following their purchase of a27.7 stake in the club last month, options are being explored to hand the credentials and vacuity of possible reserves.
Brighton head trainer De Zerbi, Brentford head trainer Frank, and England director Southgate are trainers of interest to Ineos, although sources have said that other directors and trainers are also being considered.
With United staying for incoming principal superintendent Omar Berrada to serve a period of gardening leave before starting work at Old Trafford and conversations ongoing with Newcastle over a deal for sporting director Dan Ashworth to move to United, Ineos director of sport Sir Dave Brailsford is leading the structural review behind the scenes at the club having formerly spent months overseeing an inspection of United’s player reclamation in recent times.
The delineation of a contingency plan for the possible exit of Ten Hag is now being done, with Ineos determined to avoid being unrehearsed in the summer when Liverpool, Bayern Munich, and Barcelona are formerly in the process of relating and hiring a new director.
Ten Hag was hired from Ajax in June 2022 on a three-time contract with United holding the option of a fresh 12 months, although he’s under pressure to save his job with Ratcliffe, the club’s new nonage proprietor, saying last month that qualification for coming season’s titleholders League is” important for( fiscal show play)” in terms of United complying with FFP and profit and sustainability regulations.
Since Ratcliffe made those comments after completing his nonage purchase from the Glazer family, the club’s possessors, United have lost consecutive Premier League games against Fulham and Manchester City and now sit 11 points adrift of fourth-placed Aston Villa.
Should fifth place come to a titleholders League spot grounded on England’s UEFA measure, United would have to close a six-point gap on Tottenham, who have played one game smaller, to climb into the top five.
Despite United’s disappointing season so far, ESPN sources have said that the club is apprehensive that Ten Hag’s character remains high in Europe and there’s interest in the Dutch director from Germany, where Bayer Leverkusen and Vfb Stuttgart could join Bayern in having a seductive directorial vacancy at the end of this season if largely rated trainers Xabi Alonso and Sebastian Hoeness are tempted by new jobs away.
While United is one of several clubs covering De Zerbi– one source said that” everybody is looking at De Zerbi”– Frank’s success at erecting a high-energy platoon at Brentford while embracing the London club’s data-led approach to reclamation has earned sweeties at Old Trafford.
Sources have said that Southgate would be a stranger should United seek a new director, with the 53- time-old still undecided about his post-Euro 2024 future with England and having no involvement in the club game since being fired by Middlesbrough in 2009.
But Southgate has a long-standing relationship with Ashworth having worked nearly with him at the Football Association( FA) during Ashworth’s six-time stint as the FA’s director of elite development. He has also preliminarily worked nearly with Brailsford in the history.
Sources have said that Ten Hag could yet banish the query girding his position by inspiring the platoon to a successful end to the season and that his readiness to back youths similar to Kobbie Mainoo, Alejandro Garnacho, and Rasmus Højlund has stressed his capability to capitalize on United’s tradition of youth development.
The cost of compensating Ten Hag with time to run on his contract and also paying a release figure for a new director could yet prove too high for United, but with mistrustfulness girding numerous areas of the club right now, sweats are being made to plan for every eventuality.
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