Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag has broken his silence on the “confrontation talks” he held with INEOS over the summer. And the Dutchman has also explained why he axed Benni McCarthy from his coaching set-up.
Ten Hag led the Red Devils to FA Cup final victory over Manchester City in May but was then kept waiting on direction over his future after club chiefs oversaw end-of season review.
He was eventually told he would given the opportunity to manage United once again throughout the 2024/25 campaign following a holiday in Ibiza.
“Yes, communication broke down [with INEOS],” Ten Hag explained during an interview with AD Sportwereld. “But I was just celebrating holidays with my loved ones, and I let things happen. I have no influence on that.
“Of course that is a strange state of affairs. But it’s not like I panicked. It’s a decision that was out of my hands. I just waited it out. At that moment you just think in two scenarios – either we continue or not. It’s that simple and I’m level-headed enough to look at it that way.
“They didn’t say ‘we still want to continue’, but ‘we want to continue’. The argument they gave was in short – we have looked at everything and compared everything, but we think we already have the best manager in house.
“Then I said, ‘then we have to discuss a number of things about how we will interact with each other and work together’. We had a good, honest, but also confrontational conversation about this. As it should be at the top.”
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