Rene Meulensteen names early Manchester United concern in Erik ten Hag tenure

United have been linked with plenty of names this summer, but fans are growing restless as other clubs gain a head-start in the transfer window.

Stephen Killen Senior Football Writer and James Findlater Content Editor

16:30, 23 Jun 2022

Erik ten Hag is yet to make his first signing at Manchester United(Image: Getty Images)

Former Manchester United assistant Rene Meulensteen admits he’s worried by the lack of transfers so far at Old Trafford.

United are still waiting for their first new addition of the summer as Erik ten Hag gets his rebuild under way. With the players returning to Carrington for the start of pre-season next week, anxiety continues to build among supporters following the club's dismal 2021/22 campaign.

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Despite the lack of activity, there has been no shortage of players linked or of interest to the club. United are in talks with Barcelona over Frenkie de Jong, and are set to submit an improved bid, while theu are also interested in Jurrien Timber, Antony and Christian Eriksen.

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Their rivals, meanwhile, have managed to gain a headstart, with Manchester City and Liverpool both making big signings in Erling Haaland and Darwin Nunez. Tottenham have also kept themselves busy with the additions of Yves Bissouma and Ivan Perisic, while Arsenal have also made their first signing of the summer in the shape of Fabio Vieira.

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That activity elsewhere has done nothing to quell the restless nature among United’s supporters. And former coach Meulensteen admits he’s concerned with the start made to Ten Hag’s tenure.

“It is a bit of a worry to be fairly honest, if you look again at how Liverpool and Manchester City have done the business with Nunez and Haaland, they’ve strengthened themselves,” Meulensteen told talkSPORT. “United has got far more work to do than that, it is a massive step up.

“First of all, he needs to buy in to his ideas, the way of work because there’s some issues there over the last season or so, he needs to sort that out and he needs to hit the ground running. You want to get players through the door, you want to get fans the fans excited and the message to him throughout the media is going to be important because, like we always said, they’re just sliding and sliding.

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“If I don’t see real quality coming through the door and Ten Hag has to do it with a similar sort of squad to last year with obvious players who have left the club it will be a big, big challenge.”

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