Pre-season has not yet begun for many teams, yet for Manchester United fans, it must feel like they have lived through an entire season since the final game of the 2021-22 season ended with a limp 1-0 away defeat to Crystal Palace.

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Watching the game that day was incoming manager Erik ten Hag. Fresh off the back of winning the Eredivisie with Ajax, he must have been wondering what he has signed up for when he agreed to be the next manager of Manchester United.

In just a matter of days following the end of the season, United were already been linked with a whole host of players, most notably, Frenkie de Jong. De Jong is a former Ajax player who starred under ten Hag so the link is perhaps understandable. His current club Barcelona also have financial troubles that are preventing them from registering any new players until they reduce their wage bill.

Sadly for United, whilst their main rivals were busy getting their transfer business locked in, most notably the signings of Erling Haaland at Manchester City and Darwen Nunez at Liverpool, United were once again locked in the familiar circus merry-go-round with still no end in sight when it comes to the signing of de Jong.

With back pay owing, de Jong is reluctant to leave. Couple this with the fact that United cannot offer Champions League football next season and the appeal of leaving the Nou Camp giants is relatively low.

What he would get at United is the guarantee of a starting place every week, something that is far from guaranteed at Barcelona who have an abundance of world-class midfielders at their disposal. The opportunity to work with ten Hag again might also appeal to him. At Ajax, he arguably delivered his best football to date and at 25, he still has his best years ahead of him.

How Will The New Manager Turn Things Around?

Putting aside the transfer dramas that seem to follow United around like a bad smell every summer, it is clear that ten Hag has his work cut out when it comes to turning around the fortunes of the Old Trafford side.

He has already seen the departure of a number of players, whose contracts had been allowed to expire by the previous managers and those responsible for contract negotiations. Paul Pogba, Juan Mata, Nemanja Matic and Jesse Lingard are four of the notable names to have headed for the exit, leaving ten Hag with some fairly gaping holes to fix, especially in the midfield department.

United’s leaky defence is also an area that needs addressing. Ten Hag has moved quickly to make the astute signing of Tyrell Malacia from Feyenoord who should bring an attacking presence to the left side of United’s defence.

The right-back position still looks vulnerable with Aaron Wan Bisakka and Diego Dalot failing to nail down their starting spots and question marks still hanging over both of them in terms of both their defensive and offensive capabilities.

With pre-season training already underway, there have been some obvious changes around Carrington – Manchester United’s training base. Ten Hag’s hands-on approach to running training sessions has already been apparent, along with new assistant coaches, Steve McLaren and Mitchell van der Gaag. This is a marked change from the approach of ten Hag’s predecessors, Ole Gunnar Solksjaer and Ralf Ragnick. 

His players have responded well to this new approach, with many praising the training sessions and the clear vision of the manager in terms of the way he wants his team to play.

Their pre-season tour of Thailand and Australia will give ten Hag the opportunity to exist those players who have been on the periphery of the squad, as well as running his eye over the first-team regulars and it will represent an opportunity for a number of players to play their way back into favour.

Returning from loan spells last season, Antony Martial is probably on his last life at United and if he fails to make an impact on the tour, he may well join the Old Trafford exodus in this transfer window. Donny van de Beek is another returning from a loan spell with Everton last season with a lot to prove. Van de Beek thrived under ten Hag at Ajax, playing alongside de Jong in the midfield and he will be keen to press for a place in the starting lineup on the tour.

Other names with plenty to prove to the new manager include Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw, Harry Maguire, and even Jadon Sancho who endured a tough start to life at Manchester United but showed signs of promise as the season wore on last time out.

What Do Manchester United Need To Succeed In 2022-23?

Manchester United are currently the fifth favourites with Betway Sports to lift the Premier League title in 2022-23 and even this seems like it would be a long shot at this stage.

In order to challenge for the top four once again, United still need to bring in some new recruits in this window to add some real quality to their lineup. They are still pursuing a deal for de Jong which might be drawn out until the very last minute, however, the addition of such quality to their midfield could be the difference between making the top four or missing out so it is a deal worth pursuing.

They have also been heavily linked with two of ten Hag’s former players at Ajaz – Lisandro Martinez and Antony. Both these players would add both quality and depth to the squad, however, Ajax have already lost a number of players in this window and are holding out for transfer fees that seem disproportionate to the market right now which could scupper one, if not both of those deals.

With an ongoing saga around the future of Cristiano Ronaldo hanging over them, they could also be in the market for a new striker before the close of the window, however, that might also depend on the form of Martial and Rashford in pre-season.

If ten Hag thought he would have an easy ride in his first pre-season with the squad, he will quickly be coming to the conclusion that being the manager of Manchester United is a whole different beast. Not only do they have the on-field issues that need to be addressed, but the constant media circus that follows their every move, coupled with the “United tax” that seems to get added to transfer fees mean that it has already been a challenging start to his tenure – perhaps a sign of things to come.