At this point, the “Will they or won’t they?” around Erik ten Hag’s future at Manchester United is starting to become a bit nauseating, because it’s almost as if Man United’s leadership, regardless of who it is, is kicking the can in perpetuity on a manager nobody really seems to believe in.
Manchester United spent heavily on incoming transfers in each offseason ten Hag has been Man United manager, and after last seasons’s eighth-placed finish, there haven’t been any real signs of growth to start the 2024/25 campaign.
Most pundits are clamoring for Manchester United to make a change, especially after the Red Devils non-existent midfield structure was ripped to shreds by Tottenham and then Porto in the Europa League, surrendering three goals in both matches.
In fact, Manchester United have not won a game against quality opposition since Aug. 16 when they eeked out a 1-0 victory over Fulham, and they haven’t won against European-caliber opposition yet in the 2024/25 season.
The Manchester Evening News’s Samuel Luckhurst recently reported that Manchester United continue to show interest in Thomas Tuchel as an Erik ten Hag replacement.
Manchester United have been linked to Tuchel dating back to the spring when Tuchel’s fate with Bayern Munich was already sealed after losing the locker room of the Champions League semifinalists.
Tuchel is one of the most decorated managers in world football, having won the Champions League as an underdog with Chelsea and having helped PSG reach their lone Final in club history, but he has also earned a reputation for being someone difficult to work with.
The thing is, ten Hag has that same reputation without a fraction of Tuchel’s success at the highest level, because, outside of Ajax, ten Hag hasn’t achieved much beyond the FA Cup victory with Manchester United.
As the results continue to slide for the Red Devils in 2024, the pressure on INEOS to make a change will increase both externally and internally. If Manchester United are merely biding their time with ten Hag and know he isn’t their guy, they might as well intervene to help their chances of reaching the Champions League sooner rather than waiting to hire the top manager they’ve been wanting for months in Tuchel.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. His work has been featured in ESPN, Bleacher Report, Yahoo! Sports, NBC Sports, and other major outlets. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.