Ten is not on easy number

SEEING Erik ten Hag drive into Carrington yesterday, with Steve McClaren not far behind him, I couldn’t help thinking there’ll be a lot of mocking and tough times coming his way at Manchester United.

That’s because I don’t see a man walking in and, like Jurgen Klopp, going, ‘I’m here, I’m ready, I’m laughing, but, do you know what? Beneath this jokey exterior I am going to change the nature of this club’.

Instead, on the back of Richard Arnold’s pub trip, I see obvious briefings to certain outlets and journalists that, ‘Ten

Hag has £100million to spend’.

And if that figure is right and the majority of it is going on Barcelona‘s Frenkie de Jong, who doesn’t really seem to fancy Old Trafford, then it’s not going on a player who will take them nine, 12 or 15 points closer to Manchester City or Liverpool.

On top of that, Harry Maguire now knows Barca fancy him and that could have turned his head, even though Ten Hag (above) wants to work with him.

It feels as if the Dutchman is being set up to fail before he has started.