Manchester United are hunting new signings and may sign yet another one of Erik ten Hag’s former players this summer.
Since Erik ten Hag’s move from Ajax to Manchester United in 2022, a number of his former players have arrived at Old Trafford.
Ten Hag brought Lisandro Martinez and Antony directly from Ajax in his first transfer window as United boss.
The Dutchman was at it again last summer as Andre Onana and Sofyan Amrabat – players who featured under Ten Hag at Ajax and Utrecht respectively – made the move too.
The success rate on those signings has been a little mixed but United may well go and sign another player with history under Ten Hag…
Manchester United learn Matthijs de Ligt asking price
The expectation is that Ten Hag will lose some power with Ineos now on board.
Jason Wilcox and Dan Ashworth have joined the club in high-ranking positions and are likely to lead the transfer activity rather than Ten Hag.
Still, Ineos and Ten Hag appear to be in agreement on one target – Matthijs de Ligt.
Reports suggest that Ineos have put De Ligt forward as a potential signing and Ten Hag agrees with the idea of bringing him in.
Ten Hag worked with De Ligt at Ajax, famously reaching the Champions League semi-finals together in 2019.
Now with Bayern Munich, De Ligt’s career hasn’t quite gone to plan and a reunion with Ten Hag could be ideal to get him back on track.
Sky Germany’s Florian Plettenberg now reports that Bayern have set their asking price for De Ligt at €50million (£42million).
Plettenberg adds that Ten Hag ‘really wants’ De Ligt and agent Rafaela Pimenta is working to get a deal done.
That price tag is a huge decrease from the £68million deal Bayern struck with Juventus for De Ligt just two years ago%20deal,until%20the%20summer%20of%202027.).
Before any potential add-ons, that is a £26million loss with Bayern willing to sell for a reduced price.
A £26million loss is hefty but with Kim Min-jae, Dayot Upamecano, Eric Dier and Hiroki Ito all at the club – and Jonathan Tah potentially to follow – De Ligt can go.
De Ligt needs his next move to work
The sky appeared to be the limit for De Ligt as he dazzled for Ajax as a teenager.
Juventus came calling in 2019, but they were happy for him to be sold on to Bayern three years later having not quite lived up to his potential.
Bayern now appear to be taking a similar view with the 24-year-old seemingly available to United this summer.
De Ligt will turn 25 as the Premier League season starts in August; he is far from a lost cause at this stage in his development.
The Dutchman was superb under Julian Nagelsmann, who branded him as a ‘leader’ at Bayern, but found himself out of favour under Thomas Tuchel.
If Ten Hag can get De Ligt back to his 2022-23 form, United could strike absolute gold – but De Ligt cannot afford for another transfer to backfire and will be thinking long and hard about a potential move to Old Trafford.