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Rob Dawson, Correspondent
Erik ten Hag defended his role in Manchester United‘s recruitment policy, saying he has not asked the club to specifically target players he has worked with in the past.
Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui are the latest of Ten Hag’s former Ajax players to arrive at Old Trafford after joining from Bayern Munich this week.
United have also signed Lisandro Martínez, Antony and André Onana — all former Ajax players — since Ten Hag’s appointment as manager. However, the Dutchman says he’s not the only one picking transfer targets and said each deal has been signed off by the recruitment team.
“First of all it is club decisions, none of them is only my decision,” Ten Hag said on Thursday. “It is always backed or even brought up through the scouting, recruitment, technical director, sporting director.
“It is a decision made by more than just one. But, some, you know also players and personalities and it has to fit also in the finance.”
De Ligt has moved to United for an initial £38.5 million following indifferent spells at Juventus and Bayern Munich. He also struggled to break into the Netherlands team at Euro 2024, but Ten Hag said he remains one of the best central defenders in the world.
“He has fantastic potential,” the United manager said. “Matthijs turns 25 this week and he has almost 375 games for Ajax, Juventus and Bayern Munich under his belt. That is incredible.
“Now he is turning into his best years. He has great skills as a football player, but also in his character, his personality. I am very pleased to have him here.”
De Ligt is set to be included in the squad for United’s opening Premier League game against Fulham on Friday. Ten Hag’s team is looking to get off to a better start than last season when they lost four of their first six games.
The United boss said he’s confident heading into the new campaign, particularly because of the “belief” in the dressing room.
“What I can tell is there is a good fight here, a good spirit, we feel we have good players and a strong squad,” said Ten Hag. “That strengthens the belief and that’s important in top football and performance level to have this.
“And even when results are going against you that you are resilient and you keep the belief that you have good players and have constructed a good team.”