Erik ten Hag: Man Utd must consider 'character and behaviour' of transfer targets

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has spoken about the importance of assessing the ‘character’ of potential new signings to know what kind of impact they will have on the squad.

United have found themselves in need of a reset since the end of last season, which had turned into the club’s worst in the Premier League era with a record low points tally.

The club have seen a number of players leave in recent months, while Tyrell Malacia, Christian Eriksen and Lisandro Martinez have so far been recruited. United also remain interested in Frenkie de Jong, who is well known to Ten Hag, and have been in talks with Adrien Rabiot.

United still have just under three weeks to complete the deals that they want to before the summer transfer window closes and the squad is locked in until January.

But Ten Hag has stressed why it is crucial not to rush into deals before properly assessing the character of their targets.

"Of course you analyse your squad…what are the weaknesses, what are the strengths and where can we improve? Which players are on the market?" he told BBC Football Focus.

"But it’s also really important that you know the characters of your current squad and also the players that you bring in…what characters and behaviour they have. And what the effect, or probable effect, they will have in the dressing room."

Listen now to 90min's Manchester United podcast, The Promised Land, with Scott Saunders & Rob Blanchette. In the latest edition they discuss the latest transfer news, including Marcus Rashford's future, the links to Cody Gakpo, Antony, Sasa Kalajdzic & Adrien Rabiot.

Despite some early promise in pre-season, United were caught cold when they hosted Brighton in their opening Premier League game of the new campaign last Sunday. The Red Devils have a chance to start putting things right when they face Brentford on Saturday evening.

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