Manchester United coach Erik ten Hag has made it clear to the English press that he does not want to respond to every transfer rumor. After the failed competition start against Brighton & Hove Albion (1-2) Ten Hag was asked whether he had Marko Arnautovic of Bologna in mind as the new attacker.
“I’m not going to go into names because I think 250 players have been associated with Manchester United during the pre-season,” said the 52-year-old coach. “I’ll leave it at that.”
Manchester United have already strengthened themselves this summer with Tyrell Malacia, Lisandro Martínez and Christian Eriksen. The English club has also been associated with, among others, Frenkie de Jong, Ajax striker Antony and many other players for weeks. The Austrian Arnautovic, who, like Ten Hag, has a past at FC Twente, is now in the picture as a new attacker, according to the English press.
Against Brighton, attacking midfielder Eriksen played as a ‘false’ striker. According to Ten Hag, he actually had no other option. Anthony Martial was out due to injury and Cristiano Ronaldo was not yet fit to start. “We have two strikers and you can also see Marcus Rashford as a striker, but he has done very well in preparation on the left side. That’s why we let him come from that side. We just didn’t have a real number 9 in this game. at our disposal. If Martial had been there, he would have played.”