Erik ten Hag made no shortage of mistakes during his time at Manchester United, but there are three in particular that stand out as the biggest.
The writing was on the wall sometime before Erik ten Hag was sacked, even though the Dutchman was rewarded with a contract extension after beating Man City in the 2023 FA Cup final.
Sadly, for Ten Hag, the results worsened when the 2024/25 season started. A string of woeful defeats to Tottenham, Liverpool and Brighton at the beginning of the campaign gave Ineos no choice but to sack him.
Ruud van Nistelrooy became interim manager for four matches until Ruben Amorim arrived from Sporting CP. The results never picked up, and United finished 15th in the Premier League.
United fans will hope that Amorim can turn things around next season, but before that, we are going to take a look at the biggest mistakes made by Ten Hag during his stint at Old Trafford.
Erik ten Hag watching Manchester United face West Ham
Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
Left-back hiccups
One of the most unforgivable mistakes from Ten Hag was his treatment of Alvaro Fernandez.
The left-back was highly thought of in the academy before enjoying loan spells at Preston North End and Granada.
Fernandez appeared to have a chance to break into the United team when Ten Hag initially had injury problems at left-back, with Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia, but he opted to sign Sergio Reguilon on loan from Tottenham rather than trusting Fernandez.
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Fernandez joined Granada on loan and the left-back position continued to be a problem for United. Malacia was signed from Feyenoord and has never been the answer to the problems, so the Red Devils ended up losing a player who is set to join Real Madrid this summer.
It is no surprise that Amorim addressed the left-back quickly by signing Patrick Dorgu and Diego Leon since becoming United’s head coach.
Disaster summer spending spree
Ten Hag’s second summer transfer window turned out to be a disaster.
Some of the signings included Mason Mount, Andre Onana and Rasmus Hojlund.
Mount has hardly played due to injuries preventing a run in the team, while Onana and Hojlund have struggled with below-par performances over the past two seasons.
All three of those players are un-sellable.
Antony transfer
The worst transfer of Ten Hag’s reign saw United spend a whopping £82 million to bring Antony from Ajax.
Ten Hag had worked with Antony at Ajax before taking him to United, and he had incredible levels of faith in the Brazilian winger, even though his performances were dire.
Antony has made 96 appearances for United, scoring 12 goals and registering 5 assists.
United are trying to sell Antony this summer, with Real Betis trying to strike a deal to sign the player in a permanent deal.