Erik ten Hag reveals his plan for Frenkie de Jong at Man Utd
- Ten Hag wanted United to sign De Jong from Barcelona when he joined in 2022
- Red Devils went on to buy Casemiro from Real Madrid for £70m
- United boss has frustrated fans by claiming he cannot mimic his Ajax tactics at Old Trafford
By Tom Gott
Erik ten Hag has admitted he wanted Frenkie de Jong to play alongside Casemiro to help recreate his Ajax tactics at Manchester United.
De Jong, who left Ten Hag's Ajax to join Barcelona in 2019, was the boss' top target when he moved to United in 2022 but the Red Devils could not get a deal over the line and eventually struck a deal to sign Casemiro from Real Madrid for £70m.
Ten Hag later frustrated fans by insisting he could not replicate his famous Ajax tactics at United, and he has now admitted he wanted De Jong alongside Casemiro to give him the best chance of carrying over his preferred style of play.
"Because then you have to bring in players," he told Sky Sports when asked why he felt United could not play like Ajax. "You need the players with those typical assets.
"Frenkie de Jong and Casemiro, they would be really connected with each other. They would have been really complimentary with each other, absolutely. If you want to play the Ajax style, you need that type of player."
Ten Hag, who also admitted United failed to get a deal for Harry Kane over the line before his move to Bayern Munich last summer, went on to discuss the team's struggles in the transfer market over the last decade.
"This club can only have outstanding players because the expectations are so high," he explained. "Manchester United is the biggest, or maybe second or third, biggest club in the world, the highest fanbase so expectations will always be there.
"Everyone has an opinion about Manchester United and it can only be outstanding players. That's players who have all the skillset, that is the physical and especially the mental skillset they need to perform and contribute because we have to win every game. There's an expectation around every game from us so you can only fulfil that expectation when you have those outstanding players.
"But in the last decade and in this period, we couldn't always get the players we wanted. But then you have to build and you have to accept that you get talent in instead of players who already proved it in the past."
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