According to reports, Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe made a ‘specific request’ during a meeting with other club executives earlier this week.
At the start of this week, Ratcliffe and other key Man Utd board members met in London to discuss their start to the season and their plans moving forward.
Ratcliffe has had a busy few months since buying a minority stake in the Premier League giants. He has overhauled their recruitment model and his new-look team decided to stick with Erik ten Hag at the end of last season.
Ten Hag was under pressure for much of last campaign as Man Utd struggled en route to finishing eighth in the Premier League.
Man Utd’s win against Man City at Wembley in the FA Cup final saved Ten Hag, but his side have endured a miserable start to this campaign.
The Red Devils have only won two of their first seven Premier League games this season and drew their opening two Europa League group games.
READ: Ranking Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s mistakes at Man Utd from the email to Ten Hag
Man Utd defended well but had nothing going forward in their 0-0 draw against Aston Villa last weekend and this result had bided Ten Hag more time as he’s ‘highly likely’ to remain before next weekend’s home match against Brentford.
However, a report from The Independent claims Ten Hag’s future was discussed during this week’s meeting and Ratcliffe ‘made a specific request’ to his colleagues.
It is said that Ratcliffe wants ‘United’s football hierarchy put forward forensic cases for all potential scenarios on Erik ten Hag’s future to fortify the club’s new approach’.
Former Chelsea and Bayern Munich boss Thomas Tuchel was ‘spoken of’ during the meeting and he remains Man Utd’s ‘most likely successor’ for Ten Hag.
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The report claims Ten Hag was ‘one of the main topics of discussion’, while ‘one argument’ was ‘countered by the familiar caveats’.
‘It is understood there were considerable differences in positions, although one of the most debated was over what comes next should the club eventually decide to move on from the Dutch coach. There was still no announcement or official update as of Thursday afternoon, although Ten Hag’s stance is understandably to proceed as normal once he returns from holiday, to prepare for the Brentford game.
‘Ratcliffe’s request is part of Ineos’s vaunted “evidence-based process” approach, in order for no doubt to be left about club decisions. That could be perceived as somewhat ironic, given that one senior figure is known to have stated that the current situation – where United have claimed just eight points from seven games – was exactly what could have been predicted in the summer.
‘There is of course some sympathy for Ten Hag since this is the second time he has been put through this process in a matter of months, although the preference from the club has been to keep him in for the purposes of stability. Performances and results have disrupted that, leading to the manager’s future forming one of the main topics of discussion at Tuesday’s scheduled meeting at United’s London office.
‘There, Ratcliffe made his request in a meeting that included co-owner Joel Glazer as well as chief executive Omar Berrada, sporting director Dan Ashworth, technical director Jason Wilcox and director Sir Dave Brailsford. One argument was made that was strongly in favour of a change now, but that was countered by the familiar caveats about how early in the new era it is, as well as the potential disruption from a change.’
