Dutch legend Van Basten sends message to Man Utd over Ten Hag sack

Former Netherlands international Marco van Basten has told Man Utd to give Erik ten Hag some time to turn things around at Old Trafford.

Ten Hag had a brilliant first season in charge of the Red Devils, guiding them to an FA Cup final, Carabao Cup silverware and a top-four finish in the Premier League.

This campaign has been disappointing in many ways with Man Utd finishing eighth in the Premier League and being knocked out of Europe before Christmas by finishing bottom of their Champions League group.

That led to calls for Ten Hag to be sacked but the Dutchman unexpectedly beat arch-rivals Man City 2-1 in the FA Cup final to end the season on a high.

There were reports yesterday that support is now growing amongst the Man Utd hierarchy for Ten Hag but that ‘the Dutch coach is in real danger of being sacked in a final review this week’.

And Van Basten reckons Man Utd should stick with Ten Hag after the former Ajax boss took “on too much” in his role at Old Trafford.

“It was not a good match, but it is great that he managed to win against City with such a limited team,” Van Basten said.

“Despite few opportunities with the players, he was still able to win the FA Cup, which was very important. As a result, they play European football. I think he is still the former man to get something done with Manchester United to box. I think they should give him time.

“I know from Ajax that he is a good trainer. He did well at FC Utrecht, and at Go Ahead Eagles. He is someone who can build, who can make a team stronger.

“But you have to be lucky that you have a good group. He has, and that is a mistake on his part, he bought many players for a lot of money, who did not perform well. That is the job of a technical director, he took on too much.”

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Van Basten added: “I do think he is capable of taking Manchester to a higher level. And that takes time, especially with a year like this, in which they have had to play so often with a different composition.

“Then you could say that he has to take care of that himself, but there were just a lot of injuries. I think you have to take that into account.”