Manchester United 4-1 Chelsea: We belong in the Champions League, says Erik ten Hag

Manchester United 4-1 Chelsea: We belong in the Champions League, says Erik ten Hag

Manchester United are back in place, according to manager Erik ten Hag, but the Dutchman believes they should step up this summer to make the progress he’s asking for.

United’s 4-1 win against Chelsea at Old Trafford secured a top four finish with a game to spare after missing out on the Champions League last season.

Ten Hag agrees with Arsène Wenger’s old assessment that claiming a place in Europe’s top club competition is tantamount to winning a trophy.

However, he is not one to rest on his laurels and is looking forward to the transfer window as he looks to close the gap to FA Cup final opponents and Premier League champions Manchester City.

“This club belongs to the Champions League,” said Ten Hag. “The main objective was to finish in the top four. The competition is tough, there are a lot of teams with very good squads, good managers and big budgets.”

“Right now it’s the maximum but we want more and I don’t have a lot of patience. The standards have to go up. Manchester City are playing great football but we still have a long way to go.”

Former United defender Gary Neville said “investment is needed” for the club to progress even further and Ten Hag takes a similar view, adding: “Over the summer we can work with the team we have, but we have to step up.”

United have been heavily linked in recent days with a move for Chelsea’s England midfielder Mason Mount, while Tottenham’s Harry Kane would be an obvious choice to fill the number nine role, which the club have seen as a priority if the Spurs chairman Daniel Levy would signal his willingness to sell. United are well known for seeking an experienced central midfielder in a summer of change at Old Trafford if the club can prove they are selling players better than in previous summers.

In this context, there is uncertainty as to ownership.

Raine Group, which is handling the potential sale of the club, is continuing to work on a solution after the Glazer family announced in November that they were considering a sale.

Towards the end of the season there were indications of some clarity, although representatives of Qatar’s Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani and Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos Group, the two leading bidders, have privately said that they didn’t yet know when the process would end. conclusion.

Former United captain Neville, a longtime critic of the club’s current ownership, believes something has to change for his former club to challenge City. “Erik ten Hag has achieved his maximum with this team,” Neville told Sky Sports.

“He will need an investment because I don’t think we can go higher with this group. That’s their limit. I’m certainly not a challenge for the title.”

“The coach has shown that he knows how to handle the size of the club. Now it’s about getting new owners and progressing on and off the pitch. Because they’ve been gone for 10 years now, nowhere near.”

While former Liverpool midfielder Jamie Redknapp believes Kane is an obvious target for the Old Trafford club.

“If Man Utd wants to start next season they need to look for a top striker but Martial is not the answer,” he said. “They have to get Victor Osimhen from Napoli or Harry Kane if they want to challenge seriously.

“Tottenham are a mess, it looks like you were Harry Kane, with one year left on your contract, now it’s time to leave. He missed the chance at Man City [last summer] and now he has to push. Tottenham is like a social experiment that you can push your fans into. He deserves better.

Lampard’s praise for Ten Hag

As he rummaged through the wreckage of an eighth defeat in ten games as manager, Chelsea manager Frank Lampard identified the work done by Ten Hag immediately after taking charge at United as the key to that the manager exercises his authority over a club.

This included addressing the issues surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo and his refusal to stay and look after his team-mates after being substituted at half-time in his first game of the pre-season – then refusing to come on as a substitute in the of a Premier League game against Tottenham in October

“There must be fundamentals,” Lampard said. “There must be fundamentals. “I remember when Ten Hag first arrived, people were talking about discipline and fines, about Ronaldo’s situation and setting standards. Those things meant that this club had a positive resurgence.