Under a cloud of uncertainty, the Dutch manager has bought some players but a genuine No 9 is still high on his wishlist
Erik ten Hag can be cast as Manchester United’s Donald Rumsfeld as he arrives in the US for the club’s summer tour. If the former US defence secretary’s identification of “known knowns” relates for the manager to his current squad, more critical is grappling with the “known unknowns” of who could still be signed and how the “unknown unknowns” caused by United’s stalled sale could affect his 2023-24 project.
For the future of the club to remain uncertain because of the Glazers’ procrastination is the direst possible scenario for Ten Hag. If continuity is the base requirement managers crave for team-building, then instability is the great fear, making United’s state of limbo eight months into a process billed as being resolved by the end of March (the end of fiscal quarter one) a migraine-like headache he hardly deserves.
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