Stam reveals biggest ‘issue’ for Ten Hag at Manchester United

Dan Butterfield
Manchester United legend Jaap Stam and the club's next boss Erik Ten Hag

Former Manchester United defender Jaap Stam has claimed the biggest issue Erik Ten Hag will suffer at the club is the time given to him.

Ten Hag was officially announced as the club’s next manager on Thursday morning, and will take the reigns in the summer on a three year deal.


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The Dutchman will enter the club with the task of overseeing a major rebuild at Old Trafford.

Another disappointing season will be followed by a summer that will see a  number of players leaving on free transfers and several other players seeking transfers due to reported unhappiness at the club.

Rumours of how much Ten Hag will have to spend in the summer have already begun, as have the constant links to players all around Europe.

Former United defender Stam has admitted Ten hag will have to spend to improve the squad but will find it difficult to dominate like he has done in the Eredivisie.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Stam said: “The quality of teams against you there is going to be much higher. It’s going to be more difficult to be as dominant as Ajax.

“For him to do the same in the Premier League you need to spend money and bring in players of a certain ability, because they need to fit into his philosophy and way of playing. He has been doing that in Holland and, probably, will try to do the same thing at Manchester.”

The former Lazio and AC Milan man also claimed that the biggest issue Ten Hag will suffer is whether or not he is given enough time to oversee a big rebuild at a club that demands trophies and success.

“You need to get time to do this. Do you get time? That is always the issue for a coach.

“If you are one of the biggest clubs in the world, always every season you need to compete for trophies. You may not have time to build, or have a bad season to, hopefully, make the next season a good one.

“In every season they must compete for the FA Cup, for winning the Premier League and to do well in the Champions League.

“You need to find that balance to use players that you have, the players you are keen on as a new coach. Then by adding your own players, hopefully you can implement your playing style to get results over the season.”