Ten Hag warned about new Man Utd transfer problem after Champions League exit
Manchester United could struggle to attract the world's best players and slide deeper into crisis following their shambolic Champions League exit.
That is the view of United's former first-team coach Rene Meulensteen, who claimed the ramifications of their European implosion could be far-reaching.
United missed out on Harry Kane and Declan Rice in the summer, with Erik ten Hag settling for alternative targets who have been nowhere near as effective. Meulensteen, who spent six years as Sir Alex Ferguson 's coach at United, reckons the fallen giants could find it hard to recover from their latest setback, with the best players choosing to go elsewhere.
“The biggest thing now with this massive disappointment of going out of the Champions League - and Europe in total – is you need to think about the knock-on effects it could have, in terms of the future of United,” said Meulensteen.
“If they don't make Europe again, which players are you going to attract? What sort of image are you showing to the players who want to go to a big club and wouldn't choose United? People say the Glazers have backed the managers, with money, with funds. But have they actually backed them with the players the managers want?
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“If you look back to previous managers, there's a case for every single one of them. Everybody knows that if United had got Kane, you bring 25 to 30 goals a season into your team. The problem United have at the moment is that they went for Rasmus Hojlund. I thought he was way short against those [Bayern] defenders and never really got a kick.
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Rene Muelensteen has warned Erik ten Hag that Manchester United will struggle to attract top players after their early exit from the Champions League (James Baylis - AMA/Getty Images)“But the problem is he's flanked by two individual players [ Alejandro Garnacho and Antony ] who have no intention of giving him any kind of service, because they want to create things for themselves.
“So there's an imbalance, and that imbalance is going forward. But it's also going back, in terms of the defensive shape, which you've seen in so many games.”
Meulensteen, speaking to talkSport, said one of the most damning aspects of United's meek European exit is that it did not come as a big shock to their fans. “For a lot of United fans, those in the crowd as well, it's not like this was a massive surprise,” said Muelensteen,
“If you sum up United's season, the word is inconsistency. There's a trend where they have some decent performances, followed up by some really poor performances, where they don't turn up or get any shots on goal. So it just keeps going up and down. But if you look at the whole Champions League campaign, there were so many goals conceded and so many times they had the lead but have given it away.
“There's only one way to sort these things out and that's on the training pitch. That's why you're on the training pitch every day, to make sure the players understand what the plan is.
“Now United have got Liverpool on the back of it. Liverpool will be rubbing their hands, because they'll think this is the best time to get United, after getting knocked out of the Champions League and with all the injuries they've got. So there has to be a reaction somehow, but it will be difficult.”
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