Manchester
\nManchester United head coach Erik Ten Hag admitted that he is still unsure whether the Red Devils will be able to sign Bayern Munich\u2019s defender Matthijs de Ligt. United have already secured the signing of French defender Leny Yoro and they want to strengthen the centre-back pairing by bringing in the Dutchman.
\nDe Ligt, who played 70 matches under Ten Hag at Ajax, joined the Bavarians two years ago despite being in contact with Man United. Ten Hag now wants to fulfill what he wanted in 2022 but he is not sure about whether the defender will join his side or not.
\n\u201cIt remains to be seen whether De Ligt will come. I know Matthijs well and I will not deny that,\u201d Ten Hag said while speaking to the Dutch outlet AD Sportwereld.
\n\u201cI wanted to sign him two years ago but at that time he was already very far along to join Bayern Munich but believe it or not, his name did not come from me in the process [at United].\u201d Ten Hag has often been criticized for signing his former players and De Ligt would be the fifth should the defender complete his move to the Manchester club.
\nLisandro Martinez, Antony and Andre Onana all played under him at Ajax while Sofyan Amrabatwas part of his squad at FC Utrecht.
\nTyrell Malacia, Joshua Zirkzee and ex-loanee Wout Weghorst are also the recent signings that United made and all three of them were Dutch nationals.
\nHowever, Ten Hag believes that such profiling has no part in trying to recruit players.
\n\u201cBut of course, I support these decisions, let that be clear,\u201d Ten Hag insisted. \u201cWe still make these choices together.
\n\u201cI know it creates a certain image, of course, I understand how that works, but eventually, our criterion will prevail above everything else \u2013 is the player good or not? Is he the right character? Does he fit the age and quality bracket we are looking for?
\n\u201dI understand when you do not win, the media maligns you and there is a bad image, but it [nationality] is irrelevant, whether he is from the Netherlands, Sweden, or France. It is just like the colour of hair the player has. It does not matter what the outside world thinks.
\n\u201cWe make decisions together and we jointly arrive at the best possible selection. I firmly believe we are moving in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Manchester Manchester United head coach Erik Ten Hag admitted that he is still unsure whether the Red Devils will be able to sign Bayern Munich\u2019s defender Matthijs de Ligt. United have already secured the signing of French defender Leny Yoro and they want to strengthen the centre-back pairing by bringing in the Dutchman. De Ligt, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419659,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-419642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n