Erik Ten Hag has defended the number of Dutch players he has brought to Manchester United, insisting he isn’t playing favourites in the transfer market.
The £60million double swoop this week for Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui, who both worked under Ten Hag at Ajax, means 11 of his 20 signings as United manager are Dutch or have played in the Netherlands.
The new arrivals, which also includes £36.5m Dutch striker Joshua Zirkzee, join goalkeeper Andre Onana, Antony and Lisandro Martinez, who all played for Ten Hag at Ajax, as well as Tyrell Malacia, Christian Eriksen and Mason Mount, who previously played in the Eredivisie.
Previous loan signings Sofyan Amrabat and Wout Weghorst also played in Ten Hag’s homeland earlier in their careers.
But on the eve of the Premier League opener against Fulham on Friday night, Ten Hag is adamant that he is not picking favourites.
Erik ten Hag has defended the number of Dutch signings he has made since taking over at Manchester United
Matthijs de Ligt joined United earlier this week to become their second centre back acquisition of the summer
Noussair Mazraoui (second right) joined alongside De Ligt, becoming the 10th and 11th former Eredivisie stars signed by Ten Hag
‘Not favourite,’ he said.
‘First of all it is club decisions, none of them is only my decision. It is always backed, or even brought, up through the scouting, recruitment, technical director, sporting director.
‘It is a decision made by more than only one.’
Ten Hag’s signings have had mixed success, with £86m winger Antony enduring a nightmare campaign last season in which he managed just three goals and two assists in all competitions.
Onana endured a miserable first six months before settling into the No 1 role, while Malacia, Eriksen and Mount have so far had minimal impact on the side.
It is Mount in particular, signed last summer as Ten Hag’s priority midfield target, that the United boss is most excited by.
‘Mason Mount wants to prove a point because he didn’t get a chance last season,’ he said. ‘Now he gets a whole pre-season and that will help him, support him, to have a good base to go into the season. Everyone knows Mason Mount is a quality player and he will help us to the right levels and to help us win games.’
The Dutch imprint on United is hard to ignore, not least with the arrival of Ruud van Nistelrooy, Rene Hake and goalkeeping coach Jenne ten Rouwelaar to his backroom team over the summer.
Ten Hag is most excited to see last summer's midfield priority signing Mason Mount in action
Despite being Man United's first signing of the summer, Joshua Zirkzee is not yet ready to feature
Both De Ligt and Mazraoui are in line to make their Manchester United debuts on Friday night after Ten Hag confirmed they will be included in his squad.
But Zirkzee, who was United’s first signing of the summer from Bologna, needs more time to be sharp enough to start.
‘I think he is close so that is one of the complications,’ Ten Hag said.
‘We don’t have a pre-season with him so we need games to bring him [up to speed]. If you see his background in the last months he had an injury with Bologna, in the end he made the selection for the Netherlands, so that helped him out of our first few weeks of pre-season so no games. That is his problem in this moment.’