Ajax’s Erik ten Hag is the frontrunner to be named as Ralf Rangnick’s successor after a couple of meetings with Manchester United officials over the past few weeks.
However, Ten Hag is reluctant to accept United’s job offer as he is worried about how much influence he will have in player recruitment.
According to reports, RB Leipzig have entered the race to appoint Ten Hag as they look to hijack United’s bid. The Bundesliga side opened talks with Ten Hag weeks ago and have offered him a huge contract, something which he is taking seriously.
Ten Hag’s preference is to join United but has reservations over the major surgery the team requires. He wants to have a say in the club’s rebuild in terms of who they buy and sell, according to The Times.
When asked about being linked with the Red devils, Ten Hag said on Saturday: “We are busy with training and with the matches. I want to talk about the game and not other things and whether or not I’ve had conversations. I won’t comment on rumours.”
Ten Hag also wants to bring a number of coaches with him, including his assistant, Mitchell van der Gaag, former England manager Steve McClaren and former United forward Robin van Persie.
Ten Hag’s hesitancy highlights United’s problems as RB Leipzig, who have relatively limited resources, should not be able to compete with a club of United’s stature, but that’s where they find themselves at the minute.
The Red Devils suffered a huge loss to Everton at the weekend as their hopes of finishing in the top four and qualifying for the Champions League are diminishing.
Some pundits were sympathetic with United stars after the defeat at Goodison given the speculation surrounding Ten Hag. But Rangnick doesn’t think the search for a new manager should distract them and be used as an excuse, however.
He said: “I don’t think this should be an excuse. We’re Manchester United, we have a lot of international players, this cannot be an alibi or distraction. There will be a new manager next season, whether it is announced now, in 14 days, 20 days, this should have no effect on a game like today.”
He added: “We’ve spoken about that a few times, we’re dependent on other results, but if we don’t win our games we’ll never have good results from other teams. The only thing we can do is stick together.
“Now we have Fred injured as well as Scott McTominay, so that’s two midfield sixes injured, hopefully not for too long. That’s all we can do, prepare for the Norwich game.”
