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30th October 2024
09:57am GMT
Members of an opposition team laughed when they found out that Erik ten Hag was about to sign their unpopular teammate on loan for Manchester United, according to reports.
Ten Hag was sacked on Monday with Man United in 14th place with 11 points from nine games. The 2-1 defeat away to West Ham United was the final straw for the club's decision-makers.
Sporting Lisbon head coach Ruben Amorim looks set to be appointed as the Red Devils' new manager.
While Man United finalise the move for their sixth permanent manager since Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, details are emerging about Ten Hag's troubled reign.
According to the Manchester Evening News, several issues behind the scenes made his job much more difficult.
One of these issues was recruitment, an area in which Man United has floundered for well over a decade.
The Red Devils failed to land several of Ten Hag's first-choice transfer targets, such as Harry Kane and Frenkie De Jong.
The club, however, backed him to sign many other players, granting him more power to identify signings than most of his contemporaries in the Premier League.
Ten Hag signed several Dutch players or players from the Dutch league to varying degrees of success.
Lisandro Martinez, signed from Ajax, has been United's best central defender when fit, but Antony, also signed from Ajax, has been a disastrous transfer.
Wout Weghorst was one Netherlands player signed under Ten Hag who did not excel at Old Trafford.
The Dutch centre-forward joined Burnley in January 2022 but left a few months later after they were relegated, signing for Beşiktaş on loan.
Yet, in January 2023, he found himself at Old Trafford.
According to Manchester Evening News reporter Samuel Luckhurst, when Man United signed Weghorst on loan from Burnley, it came as a massive shock to the Clarets players.
"Ten Hag’s autonomy in recruitment was a throwback to a bygone era and undermined (John) Murtough, who eventually left in April," he writes.
"Burnley players laughed upon learning United had signed Weghorst, unpopular at Turf Moor, on loan in January 2023.
"Weghorst was such a big fish in a small pond at Burnley that he lobbied chairman Alan Pace to sack Sean Dyche.
"His Burnley teammates were more concerned by Weghorst’s dire win percentage in aerial duels.
"Weghorst scraped two tap-in goals in 31 appearances for United but Ten Hag subjectively felt he was a success."
Weghorst has since signed for Ajax, where he has so far scored six goals in seven games with the Amsterdam club, highlighting the gulf in quality between the Eredivisie and the Premier League.
It appears as though recruitment, and perceived favouritism towards his own signings, counted against Ten Hag with some members of the United squad.
According to the Manchester Evening News, "Some United players have never taken to Antony.
"One was dismayed by his behaviour towards staff in the canteen, though a well-placed United source described the exchanges as more convivial."
Meanwhile, the struggles of Rasmus Hoijlund and Weghorst in front of goal "were held against Ten Hag by portions of the dressing room."
Ten Hag joined Man United from Ajax ahead of the 2022/23 season and won two trophies at Old Trafford—the EFL Cup in 2023 and the FA Cup in May.
However, after a disappointing eighth-place finish last season, he was given a reprieve.
But after one of the club's worst-ever starts to a Premier League campaign, the United board decided to make a change.
Ruud van Nistelrooy has been appointed interim manager until a permanent appointment is named.
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