Man Utd: Pundit gets ‘no inclination’ Ten Hag will stay as ‘conversation’ with player reveals replacement
Jason McAteer has claimed that a Manchester United player has given “no inclination” that Erik ten Hag will stay beyond the summer, with his replacement already lined up.
Ten Hag is the favourite to be the next Premier League manager sacked with his side eighth in the top flight with two matches remaining.
The highest Manchester United can finish this season is sixth but they do have an FA Cup final to dread look forward to against Manchester City after the conclusion of the league season.
The Dutch manager is rightly under a severe amount of pressure and with Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his minions watching Ten Hag’s every move like hawks, you have to feel that the writing is on the wall.
There are a few names in the frame amidst the pressure on the ex-Ajax boss, with England manager Gareth Southgate and Bayern Munich’s Thomas Tuchel the two favourites.
Former Brighton boss Graham Potter and current Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi are also among the managers being linked with the poisoned chalice at Old Trafford.
While all of these names are reportedly on Ratcliffe’s shortlist, we don’t know for sure that the British billionaire is going to put Ten Hag out of his misery.
If McAteer is to be believed though, Ten Hag will be sacked and succeeded by Southgate.
The former Liverpool player has revealed that he bumped into a United player last week and the first-team star ‘gave no inclination’ that Ten Hag will be in charge next season.
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“I won’t name names because I don’t want to say who he is but he plays for Man United and I had a conversation with him on Friday, I bumped into him because I live just outside the area,” McAteer said on beIN Sports.
“We got into conversation, great lad, and I asked him about the end of the season and what he thought and he gave me no inclination that the manager was there to stay.
“In fact, we spoke about different names and who we thought will be a good fit and I got no inclination from him.”
McAteer then denied that Tuchel or Jose Mourinho would replace Ten Hag before being asked if Southgate was the name mentioned as the Dutchman’s likely replacement.
“Yeah, that was the name,” he responded.
McAteer continued: “Footballers have an inclination when the manager’s job is on the line and it goes around the camp, obviously they know don’t they, and I just got the feeling that it’s done, it’s done.”
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Understandably, England boss Southgate has distanced himself from the job ahead of this summer’s European Championships in Germany.
“I’m not a big gambling man and bookies, they can make their odds but it’s not conversations that’s been had with me,” he told ITV News.
“I’ve got one thing to focus on. That’s having as successful a tournament with England as possible. Everything else outside of that is a complete irrelevance to me.”
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