Ten Hag hits back at Mourinho’s transfer claims

UNITED manager Erik ten Hag has hit back at comments made by Jose Mourinho about the level of ‘support’ he has been given during his Old Trafford tenure.

Mourinho recently suggested Ten Hag has been given more backing in the transfer market than he received during his time in charge. The former Chelsea and Real Madrid boss spent two-and-a-half years at Old Trafford, between May 2016 and December 2018.

During that time, the Portuguese chief drafted in a cluster of big-name players for big-money transfer fees, including Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku. Pogba returned to United in August 2016 for a club-record fee of £89m.

However, Mourinho said he didn’t receive the same level of backing during his tenure as Ten Hag has. United have spent more than £400m since the Dutchman was appointed in April 2022, including £179.2m on Andre Onana, Mason Mount and Rasmus Hojlund last summer.

Ten Hag has hit back at Mourinho’s claim, insisting the Portuguese is the only United manager who has been supplied with the players he wanted since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013. “Apart from Mourinho, the manager didn’t get the players they wanted, and that is what you need,” Ten Hag told ESPN Brazil. “I am confident we will achieve our goals, but it is a tough competition. It is not a two-horse race anymore.

“There are seven, eight [teams in the Premier League] who all go for the title, who all have very good squads.”