Man Utd have perfect candidate ready and waiting to replace Erik ten Hag now

Manchester United’s board may be willing to stick with Erik ten Hag despite the latest disastrous defeat to Galatasaray in the Champions League, but there is an ideal candidate ready and available should they change their mind. Ten Hag has been heavily backed in the transfer market since coming in as the club’s new manager in 2022 in a bid to build his own side.

Big money has been spent on the likes of Antony, Casemiro, Lisandro Martinez, Rasmus Hojlund, Mason Mount and Andre Onana. They appeared to be on the right track in Ten Hag’s debut season as he helped them secure a top-four finish as well as ending their six-year trophy drought.

However, United have failed to kick on from there and are already playing catch up to start the new campaign. They’ve lost six of their opening 10 games across all competitions for the first time since 1986.

Defeat to Galatasaray has already left United with a mountain to climb in order to make it through to the knockout stages of the Champions League. Just three wins from seven league games has also left them falling seven points adrift in the battle to finish inside the top four once again.

United’s argument will be that there’s still plenty of time to turn things around for Ten Hag and the Dutchman was hired with the idea of looking at the long term vision. However, there will come a point where a decision will be need to made if Ten Hag is unable to turn things around.

Contingency plans may even be in place for that scenario and Graham Potter would almost certainly be high up on that list. The 48-year-old was seen as one of the world’s most up-and-coming coaches at Brighton before his disappointing spell at Chelsea.

Potter almost had an impossible job at Stamford Bridge as he was given the almighty task of overseeing huge changes on and off the field at Chelsea. Mauricio Pochettino hasn’t fared much better in the Chelsea hotseat with the club’s lavish spending continuing this past summer.

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The mess that Chelsea currently find themselves in goes to prove that Potter wasn’t completely at fault during his short reign in charge of the London club. United need only look at Brighton’s trajectory under Potter to see what kind of manager they could be getting with the right project underneath him.

It’s the kind of project all clubs aspire to follow in finding untapped talent and molding them into bonafide superstars. United may well be in need of going back down a similar route and Potter would be a smart appointment if the club change tact.

Ten Hag will still be confident that he can turn things around, but some cracks are beginning to show with United fans loudly booing their team off the field earlier this week. Potter is already being chased for jobs all over Europe with Rangers reportedly making an attempt to bring him in, but the Englishman is said to favour another job in the Premier League.

Potter’s willingness to wait could play into the hands of United in the long run and he’d be chomping at the bit to prove his capabilities at the top level once again.

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