Manchester United

Manchester United

Premier League • England

Ten Hag revolution enters next phase as Man Utd boss decides to axe plethora of stars; one player already has 12 offers

Erik ten Hag managing Man Utd

Erik ten Hag is preparing for another busy summer at Manchester United and could let a host of players leave Old Trafford, according to a report.

Man Utd underwent the first stage of their rebuild last summer, as big names such as Paul Pogba, Edinson Cavani, Jesse Lingard and Juan Mata all departed the club on free transfers. Ten Hag then managed to bring in some players he trusted from his Ajax spell, in Antony and Lisandro Martinez, as well as pulling off a transfer coup by capturing Casemiro from Real Madrid.

Christian Eriksen and Tyrell Malacia also joined the Red Devils last summer, while Ten Hag bolstered his squad in January with the arrivals of loanees Wout Weghorst and Marcel Sabitzer.

While the Man Utd boss has shaped the squad to his liking, he is far from finished. According to the Daily Mail, the next stage of his revolution will see a lot more of the ‘deadwood’ in the squad be offloaded.

Centre-back Phil Jones, who has been at the club since July 2011, will be allowed to leave as his contract is due to expire in June. Jones has been linked with a few Championship teams in the past, though it remains to be seen if they are willing to take a punt on him due to his poor injury record.

Fellow centre-half Eric Bailly will also be put on the transfer market. He has spent the season on loan at French club Marseille but has not done enough to earn a permanent move there.

READ MORE – Man Utd exclusive: Ten Hag hoping to sign Watford duo and beat Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham to double transfer coup

Bailly’s transfer to Marseille would have become permanent if he made a certain number of appearances, but according to French newspaper L’Equipe, manager Igor Tudor is purposely not playing him so the buy option remains untriggered.

Winger Anthony Elanga is going to be axed by Ten Hag, too. He impressed under Ten Hag’s interim predecessor, Ralf Rangnick, but has not had the same impact this term.

Ten Hag to complete ruthless Man Utd cull

Elanga has played 24 times in all competitions, though most of these have come from the bench.

Despite Elanga’s struggles, the Daily Mail claim he is astonishingly being hunted by 12 clubs, all of whom are preparing bids for him.

One of these is likely Everton, who tried to sign the Swede in January but were unsuccessful.

Ten Hag is also considering selling some more big names, with club captain Harry Maguire, £50million right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka and forward Anthony Martial all potentially on the chopping block.

Alex Telles, Donny van de Beek and Brandon Williams have all failed to impress Ten Hag and may be put up for sale as well.

Man Utd could make some serious money when selling the eight players who remain in contract (leaving Jones out). While the likes of Maguire, Wan-Bissaka and Martial have struggled in recent years, they will still pick up interest from some teams with good spending power.

Allowing all of these players to leave will help Ten Hag bring in some of his main summer targets. The report reiterates the fact that he wants a new centre-forward ahead of all other signings. Harry Kane is his main objective up front, although Victor Osimhen could be targeted too.

Once the striker signing is finalised, Man Utd will chase a new midfielder, centre-back and right-back. Then, if they can still afford it, they will try to bring in a new goalkeeper. Although, that may have to wait until 2024 depending on how much the other transfers cost.

Meanwhile, transfer insider Graeme Bailey has told TEAMtalk how Lionel Messi’s next move will help Man Utd sign a midfielder.