Erik ten Hag tells the Man Utd players who has no future at the club

13 January 2024 , 22:30

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Erik ten Hag means business (Image: Getty Images)

Erik ten Hag has warned his players that anyone who refuses to fight for Manchester United has no future at Old Trafford.

‌United's new co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe backed Ten Hag in his battle of wills with Jadon Sancho by banishing the £72million winger back to Borussia Dortmund after refusing to apologise for questioning the Dutchman's honesty.

Twelve months ago, the United boss prevailed after a similar showdown with megastar Cristiano Ronaldo. And while Ten Hag now needs his squad to dig him out of a hole created by 14 defeats in 29 games, he remains adamant that it's his way or the highway.

"If you want to perform you need hungry players," said Ten Hag. "You need players with personalities who are hungry to fight for the badge and fight for this club. And they need to do this as a team. It's not about discipline. It's about normal behaviour. That is what you can expect from a top professional."

‌Ten Hag booted Ronaldo out of the club from a position of power just over a year ago, with United on course to win the Carabao Cup and finish in the top four.

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‌When Sancho challenged his authority after being left out of the team to face Arsenal in September, the United boss refused to select the England international until he apologised. Ten Hag was not for turning even when United suffered a catalogue of injuries and a devastating slump in form.

‌Now Ratcliffe has supported the manager by sanctioning Sancho’s on-loan departure to the Bundesliga after taking over football operations following his £1.3billion buy-in. Ten Hag insists that he continues to believe that he is the right man to bring back the glory days.

Jadon Sancho has left Man United on loan (Matthew Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images)

‌He said: "If you ask me the question 'Is it difficult for you?' No, it's not difficult for me, because I expected from the start of this season that the process can go negative and as a manager, you have to stay positive and get the process back in the right direction.

"In the meantime, you have to be pragmatic, get as many points as possible, and wait until the players are fit - and in the meantime work on your team, work on individuals to go to a higher level, set conditions for the team performing better and the results will rise again.

"I am managing a project here and I know that when you get setbacks like the injuries we had, no team can handle so many injuries and you will drop off a level. Also, we made some choices in the summer, for the future.

"We know we have to perform and we want to do it at short notice, as quickly as possible. I know we don’t have time. The choices we made, we signed talent - and talent needs time.

‌"Like the development you now see with the progress of Alejandro Garnacho, of Kobbie Mainoo, and also for instance Rasmus Hojlund. He needs time, but at the same moment, we don’t have time. I knew this could happen. You need time to get the progress in, so for me, it’s not difficult. I see it very rational that this is how a process could go."

Simon Mullock