Erik ten Hag wants to reattempt transfer pursuit this winter after 2022 failure

Every man and his dog knows Erik ten Hag wanted to sign Frenkie de Jong in 2022 when he became Manchester United manager.

The Reds spent over 100 days chasing De Jong that summer but to no avail as he would remain at Barcelona. Two years on and the Netherlands star is still playing his football at Camp Nou, and being linked with a move to Old Trafford as Ten Hag reminisced about their time spent together at Ajax.

You could also say Ten Hag has often opted for players he has worked with in the past, and many will claim it’s been a detriment to our results.

Fresh claims from Spanish outlet Sport (cited by Sport Witness) claim Ten Hag wants United to make another attempt to sign him in the winter market to help bolster the midfield after such a poor start to the season.

There have been questions raised over the future of the manager at the club, so it’s important to note that United now have football directors in place who will be making decisions on recruitment moving forward.

It doesn’t just come down to Ten Hag. Furthermore, De Jong is rated by a lot more people in football than just Ten Hag.

The 27-year-old remains one of the best midfielders in the world, and he’d help improve United’s midfield tenfold.

Ten Hag reportedly feels De Jong would ‘give me impetus to a team in constant reconstruction’.

Frenkie De Jong missed start of the season due to injury

Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images

An ankle injury forced De Jong to miss the start of this season and he only returned to action this month.

It’s stated that he has no plans to leave Barcelona and his deal runs until 2026.

Barcelona may have a financial decision to make, but do we want to be signing a player who doesn’t have any real interest in moving to Old Trafford? We’ve seen that red flag before.