Erik ten Hag breaks silence on Matthijs de Ligt transfer links

Erik ten Hag has broken his silence on Manchester United’s transfer activity amid links to Netherlands international Matthijs de Ligt.

Although De Ligt is Dutch, Ten Hag was keen to stress that he was not solely responsible for the Bayern Munich centre-back’s arrival at Old Trafford.

United completed the signing of Leny Yoro from Lille for an initial £52million on Thursday but the club have not yet ruled out the possibility of signing another defender.

Raphael Varane left the club at the end of his contract this month and Willy Kambwala was sold to Villarreal in Spain. There is an opportunity to sell more defenders as Victor Lindelof and Harry Maguire remain on the wage list.

Of course, Ten Hag worked with De Ligt during his time at Ajax and, if he does move to Old Trafford this summer, he would follow in the footsteps of former Ajax players Lisandro Martinez, Antony and Andre Onana.

The 24-year-old is reportedly keen to leave the Allianz Arena to join Ten Hag this summer. The Reds already have a strong Dutch squad at the club, including Joshua Zirkzee and coaches Ruud van Nistelrooy, Rene Hake and Jelle ten Rouwelaar.

Ten Hag stresses that he is not the only one making transfer decisions. He must adapt to United’s new structure, which has already welcomed two new signings.

“We will have to wait and see if De Ligt will come” Ten Hag told Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dadblad. “But the good news is that during my vacation, I was out of the process for three or four weeks. During that period, it was really the club, the new recruitment and scouting department that brought in these players.

“The fact that there are also Dutch players among them is actually a coincidence. These are mainly players recruited by our organization. But of course I support them, let that be clear – and we always make the choice together.”

With United working together on deals, everyone will be able to take responsibility and it won’t stop at the manager. That’s what happened with the previous structure and that’s why we’ve hired several managers in recent years.

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