“Ineos faces pivotal decision under new Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe regarding Erik ten Hag’s tenure at Old Trafford”
In the next months, Sir Jim Ratcliffe will need to make a significant choice on Erik ten Hag’s future.
Despite having played one extra game, Manchester United is currently sixth in the Premier League standings, 11 points behind the top four and 6 behind Tottenham in fifth. In addition, they are not in Europe, and this month they have an intimidating FA Cup match versus Liverpool.
Many of United’s problems, both on and off the pitch, such as the stories surrounding Mason Greenwood, Jadon Sancho, and a long injury list that would have tested any manager, would have been argued to be outside of Ten Hag’s control. Another argument would be that Ratcliffe’s drastic modifications to the football system should provide the Dutchman the opportunity to work there.
But with the high expectations at Old Trafford and United’s poor performance after finishing third the previous season, many are wondering if Ten Hag will be able to live up to Ratcliffe and his Ineos group’s ambitious plans. A potential candidate to succeed the outgoing Ajax manager is Roberto de Zerbi, the manager of Brighton.
As the Seagulls get ready to play Roma in the Europa League round of 16, the Italian has brought them to Europe for the first time in their history. Last season, they advanced to the FA Cup semifinals as well, however they were barely defeated by United at Wembley on penalties.
Nevertheless, Brighton has also recently regressed, albeit less dramatically than Ten Hag’s squad. With just five victories in their last 21 league games, De Zerbi’s team has fallen to ninth place in the standings and is currently in danger of missing out on Europe.
It’s also important to remember that De Zerbi rarely stays around. He has never stayed at one club for as long as he has at Sassuolo, having spent even less time at Benevento and Palermo in Italy before spending just over a year with Shakhtar Donetsk.
Granted, the reason for many of those brief stints was that he left for more lucrative opportunities—Palermo was the only team to fire him. However, after just 18 months in charge, a difficult second season at the Amex suggests that his techniques may be losing their effectiveness with the Brighton team.
De Zerbi might be able to work with better players and have access to more resources at United, but his downturn at Brighton should raise red flags. Is there any assurance that De Zerbi will stay long enough to make the necessary improvements, even if coming up to Manchester City, Liverpool, and Arsenal will require the patience Ratcliffe has requested?
