Finger pointed at Ten Hag as summer signing is told he's wasted his talent and will never fulfil potential

Manchester United summer signing Matthijs de Light has been scolded for moving to Old Trafford this summer with two pundits from his homeland joining Paul Scholes in lamenting the wisdom in the transfer and amid claims his progress will be stunted by reuniting with Erik ten Hag.

The Netherlands defender became the latest player to reunite with Ten Hag at Old Trafford this summer when he signed on a deal ultimately worth £42.8m (€50m, $55.6m) from Bayern Munich. And with Noussair Mazraoui also arriving from the Bundesliga giants on the same day, having also played under Ten Hag at Ajax, that now means the Manchester United boss has been allowed to sign five of his former charges, with Andre Onana, Lisandro Martinez and Antony all having previously played for the Dutch giants.

Ten Hag has also brought in two other Dutch stars too in Joshua Zirkzee and Tyrell Malacia during his tenure, but rather than help lead a revival, United find themselves stuck in the lower half of the Premier League table with three losses from six games played to date.

With the United manager now on brink of the axe, two Dutch pundits have noted De Ligt‘s inglorious start to life at Old Trafford and suggest his move there confirms their fears that the player will never fulfil his early career promise.

Seen as a rising star when breaking through at Ajax, Rene van der Gijp told Dutch soccer show Today Inside that De Ligt’s career has gone backwards – and a move to Man Utd confirms it.

“That De Ligt gets a lot of criticism there,” van der Gijp said.

“I had the idea that he would develop in the direction of Gerard Piqué, rather than in the direction he has now gone. Ruthless, lying on the ground, making sliding tackles. It’s such a shame he has now chosen that direction [to join United], so that won’t be him [a world star] anymore. A real shame.”

Agreeing with his analysis, another pundit Johan Derksen also pointed an accusing finger at Ten Hag, revealing that the history books tell us that signing too many familiar players breeds contempt rather than success.

“I really thought he was a talent at Ajax. There is no one who could head as well as De Ligt,” added Derksen.

“It is always unwise as a trainer to only bring in compatriots. That went wrong at Barcelona, ​​when all those Dutch people were at Real Madrid it went wrong too. Indeed this situation (signing players a series of Dutch players) only went well with [Ruud] Gullit, [Marco] Van Basten and [Frank] Rijkaard at Milan.”

GO DEEPER ➡️ Matthijs de Ligt: What Ten Hag disciple can add for Man Utd and why Juventus, Bayern moves didn’t work out

Scholes and Carragher also tear into De Ligt

They are not the only ones to question the wisdom in United signing De Ligt, with Paul Scholes also recently hitting out at his signing.

Speaking to SuperSport, Scholes bemoaned: “When you bring players in, you expect them to be a lot better than who you’ve already got. I don’t see players coming in who are a big difference.

“De Ligt has come in for [Harry] Maguire, let’s say, but there’s no big difference there.”

When asked whether De Ligt is an improvement on Maguire, Scholes replied: “No, absolutely not.”

Scholes also feels the rest of United’s big-money signings need to start proving their worth quickly, adding: “These are experienced players who United have paid a lot of money for. We need to stop hearing excuses and get on that training pitch and find a way of playing.

“Find something, give us something!”

Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher also does not understand why United spent so big on another central defender this summer and having pulled apart his performance for United in last Sunday’s 3-0 home hammering by Tottenham.

On Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football, Carragher said: “I’ve noticed this with De Ligt and a lot of centre-backs… I don’t understand why they don’t fill the space and come over. I see this so much. The striker just behind him has got nothing to do with him. That’s Martinez’s job, if De Ligt goes over, Martinez comes across. He’s looking over his shoulder, forget that! Forget it! Get it here!

“It was a brilliant run. It was amazing. But Van de Ven runs because he sees the space. Listen, the full-back gets caught out but again I want to go to De Ligt. This sums Manchester United up for the last two of three years. Pressing but always being late. They’re locked in here, the front three of Tottenham are locking the back four in.”

On a chance for Tottenham in the second half, he continued: “But where is De Ligt?! The right-back has come up here, look where De Ligt is! You’ve got to get over! In every situation there in that first-half, two massive chances and a goal, in De Ligt – a player they’ve brought in for huge money – he’s completely out of position every time. He ends up flying into challenges and you’re leaving yourself in a situation where you can get yellow and red cards.”

Ten Hag urged to QUIT; top choice to become Man Utd boss emerges

By widespread accounts, Ten Hag’s tenure as United boss could well come to an end next week if Sunday’s match at Aston Villa does not go their way and amid claims the club will discuss his future at a board meeting next week.

With speculation rising that the axe will indeed fall, United are reported to have already seen an approach for Inter coach Simone Inzaghi fall short, with the Italian unwilling to walk out on the reigning Serie A champions.

While we can confirm Inzaghi is one coach in their thinking, he is not their top choice and, with the cost of removing Ten Hag likely to set the club back some £16m in compensation payments, their next appointment is likely to be currently unattached.

As a result, TEAMtalk correspondent Rudy Galetti has confirmed that former Chelsea and Bayern Munich boss Thomas Tuchel remains their top choice to take on the role, with the German having rejected that chance over the summer.

Gary Neville, meanwhile, has explained why he would be dead against the possible appointment of Gareth Southgate as United manager, explaining why he would not be the right fit.

Elsewhere, with the pressure on Ten Hag seemingly reaching fever pitch, one of the Dutchman’s close friends has revealed why he wanted him to quit as United boss over the summer and why he thinks it is a ‘miracle’ he’s lasted this long in the hot seat.

Former Ajax stars Ten Hag has reunited with and Dutch stars he’s signed permanently at Man Utd

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