Since he took over at Man United, Erik ten Hag has been renowned for being a straight talker and someone who will say things to a player’s face so that everyone knows where they stand.
That couldn’t have been highlighted any better than when Cristiano Ronaldo was summarily dispensed with by the Dutchman, who had clearly had enough of the Portuguese’s antics.
Clearly not backwards in coming forwards with a forthright opinion, ten Hag has now taken a swipe at Chelsea and their transfer policy since Todd Boehly took ownership of the club from Roman Abramovich.
“When there is no strategy or [not] the right strategy, money doesn’t work,” he was quoted as saying by The Telegraph.
“In this moment a centralisation of good players, of the best managers, also the money, is all here in the UK, and that makes a great competition but also a tough and a hard competition. You have to do the right things, you can have money but you have to spend it in a smart way and you need to have a strategy behind it, otherwise the money doesn’t work.”
Though one could say it would be easy to agree with the Dutchman’s sentiments, it’s difficult to understand why he would want to be concentrating on how his competitors spend their money.
Ten Hag’s only concern should be which Man United players will be let go this summer and which targets are realistic enough for the Old Trafford outfit to make a bid for, and which is likely to be acceptable to the selling club.
He’s done well in the transfer market in the short space of time he’s been working at the Theatre of Dreams, but once the takeover has been rubber-stamped and he knows how much he has to spend, let’s see if ten Hag can keep to his word.
After all, when the money is there to be spent and there are some heavyweight names available in the marketplace, the club really need to be positioning themselves at the head of the queue… and that isn’t a space that comes cheaply.