After the club’s owners took a chance, Erik ten Hag should aim further than only winning domestic cups, he contends to Mikael Silvestre.
The club’s minority owners, INEOS, have given Ten Hag another chance to be successful at United, and his team’s victory over Manchester City in the FA Cup final appears to have made up for overseeing the Red Devils’ worst-ever Premier League finish. Although he won the Carabao Cup in his debut season, this was his second trophy triumph with United. However, much more is anticipated of him in the upcoming campaign.
“The cup is not the club’s main objective, they have got to be challenging for the title like Man City and Arsenal have been doing over the last two seasons,” Silvestre told TG Casino. “There is still a lot of room for improvement and hopefully he can get some more signings to improve the squad.”After talking with Thomas Tuchel and looking at a few other options to replace Ten Hag, United decided to stay with the Dutchman, which led to the one-year contract extension.
Silvestre continues, “I couldn’t find another candidate for the post, so I think that was the appropriate decision. The previous season was a letdown, even though Erik seemed to have been handed a difficult assignment and had a great start.
Ten Hag has brought in two players this summer: Joshua Zirkzee, a striker from the Netherlands, was purchased by United for £37 million ($43 million) from Bologna, and Leny Yoro from Lille for £52 million ($66 million). The team is also considering signing Bayern Munich’s Noussair Mazraoui. Ten Hag has received a good deal of flak for the numerous players he has either signed or attempted to sign after previously working with them at Ajax, with the Morocco right-back being the most recent. Silvestre, though, does not find this problematic.
“It varies; it’s not a generalization that can be made,” the Frenchman continued. “There were some successful ones and others, like Antony, that haven’t worked out yet. On the other hand, you can tell when Lisandro Martinez isn’t playing. It is just the way that things work out when you are a manager or sporting director; after that, it’s only a question of whether the player will play for United. Therefore, I believe that the manager will now have support from new hires and technical decision-makers in making the best decisions.”
United’s preseason campaign has been miserable; they have lost three of their five friendlies and suffered injuries to Yoro and Rasmus Hojlund. The fact that the majority of their first team roster will be available for Saturday’s Community Shield matchup against City will help them. On August 16, they host Fulham to start their Premier League campaign at home.