Elanga details reasons behind Man Utd exit after falling foul of Ten Hag
Anthony Elanga isn't the first and won't be the last man to lose out under Erik ten Hag.
You get winners and losers when a new manager comes in and, unfortunately for the young Swede, he has turned out to be the latter. Five Premier League starts were not enough for him and Nottingham Forest have have ended up being the beneficiaries this summer.
They will hope Elanga can fire them to another season in the Premier League after his switch was confirmed with the player seeking more minutes at this stage of his career. The 21-year-old has shown he has the appetite in front of goal, excelling on the biggest stages previously for United.
His career in red seemed to be on a steady upward trajectory until Ten Hag arrived. Other team-mates have also fallen foul of the Dutchman's subtle yet ruthless axe. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick clearly saw something in Elanga that Ten Hag didn't.
That or the Dutchman deemed the forward surplus to requirements at Old Trafford as he seeks to make them a force in England and Europe once more. The irony is goals from a source that wasn't Marcus Rashford were an issue for the Red Devils last term, yet Elanga was regularly overlooked.
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Backing the youngster had been a strategy that paid dividends for those that came before Ten Hag and rarely had Elanga failed to produce when called upon. The call last term though rarely came and a debut that delivered plenty of promise will further itself at the City Ground.
The future's bright
Elanga scored on the final day of the 2020/21 season in a United team filled with youngsters at Wolves. He needed just 13 minutes to open his account a Molineux as the Red Devils picked up a 2-1 win.
Solskjaer said afterwards: “The future’s bright for (Elanga) I think, and I know I can trust him to keep his feet on the ground and make the most of his talent.” So much so that the youngster was denied a loan move away that summer as United sought to make the most of his ability.
Anthony Elanga had been developing impressively under previous managers (Getty Images)Even after the Norwegian was axed and Rangnick came in, that sentiment remained. A summer of heavy recruitment had left United with, on paper at least, a stacked forward line. Cristiano Ronaldo was complimented by the likes of Anthony Martial, Jadon Sancho and Edinson Cavani.
Yet Elanga played in 27 games across all competitions, 16 of them as a starter, just months after making his United debut. International level players were getting left out so that the young Swede could play and Rangnick made his selection policy clear.
“He’s playing as if his dream’s come true, and there’s just joy and fun to watch him play," said the German. "I wish a few other players would take him as an example, almost like a role model. Not because he’s doing everything right, but he just’enjoying himself on the pitch and that’s what it’s all about."
Elanga came up with big goals in a morale boosting win at Brentford and followed that up on a big European night in Spain. Trailing 1-0 to Atletico Madrid on the road it was Elanga who latched onto a through ball and found the crucial equaliser at the Wanda Metropolitano.
New era, different plan
The youngster must've hoped that the work he'd done under Rangnick, who was only ever a stop gap until the end of the season, would continue under his new boss. That would not be the case.
Despite United not firing on all cylinders in the final third, Elanga rarely got the chance to stake his claim. Other than Rashford only one man hit double figures in the goal tally, that being Bruno Fernandes.
Ten Hag though was more than willing to stick by players who didn't come up with the goods. Wout Weghorst was a January arrival but failed to fire in the league, yet was continually picked. Martial and Sancho also couldn't find the net with any regularity.
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Anthony Elanga's minutes were greatly reduced last termUnited were also competing on several fronts. At the turn of the New Year they were still competing in four competitions and heading into spring, after their Carabao Cup success, they were still involved in several games a week across league and cups.
Elanga never hid his feelings, but accepted that it was beyond his control. “It is frustrating. You want to play. It is important," he said. "But if you don’t play, it’s not up to me but up to the coach. I have spoken to Erik [ten Hag] and it is private between the two of us. I know what he wants me to do and I can just keep training hard. When the opportunity comes, I just have to be ready to take it."
The issue for the 21-year-old was that those opportunities didn't really come. During 2022 Elanga was handed just 48 minutes in the league. Often he was an unused sub or not named in the matchday squad at all.
In his exit statement on social media the forward said: "It is the right time now for the perfect next step in my career. I’m someone who lives for football and I need to be on the pitch every week doing what I love."
That reason is entirely justified and, on that basis, Elanga could be the first of many United players to pursue the exit door as Ten Hag's favourites and outcasts become increasingly evident.
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