Erik ten Hag is reportedly keen to back Sir Jim Ratcliffe as the INEOS founder takes control of Manchester United’s footballing operations.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe is expected to have his bid for 25% of Manchester United ratified by the board on Thursday, where he will then take control of all sporting operations at the club.

An 11-month-long battle for the takeover of Manchester United concluded on Saturday afternoon when it was revealed that Sheikh Jassim had pulled out of the race for Erik ten Hag‘s club, leaving Ratcliffe in the clear to agree a minority shareholding agreement with the view of taking full ownership of the club in the next few years.

As part of his bid, Ratcliffe demanded that he take over the sporting directives of the club, which would greatly affect Ten Hag, who will now likely work closely with Ratcliffe on the matters of football.

According to the Daily Mail, Ten Hag is welcoming Ratcliffe’s injection into the club as he feels it would help to raise the standards at Manchester United – something the Dutch manager is keen on doing.

Ten Hag’s job is said to be under no threat as those at INEOS are reportedly keen on keeping the Dutchman, and as Ten Hag has been growing frustrated with the recruitment system at the club, a change in this area is welcomed.

It is claimed that Ten Hag and Ratcliffe do have an existing relationship due to the latter’s ownership of Ligue 1 side Nice, and they bumped into each other when Ratcliffe visited United’s Carrington training ground for takeover talks in March.

Although there is likely to have been no official contact between the pair due to the strict governing rules in the takeover process, it is said that the manager is likely to be “enthusiastic” about Ratcliffe’s investment.