De Ligt buy proves Ten Hag is all-in on Dutch gamble

“Manchester is red,” read the message on a football club’s social-media account; though not from the Manchester club who play in red. It was a cheeky point made by Ajax, surveying Manchester United’s recruitment drive and the addition of two of their alumni, Matthis de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui, on the same day. It means that, in the former Ajax manager Erik ten Hag’s reign, United have now spent around a quarter of a billion pounds on his Ajax players.

- RICHARD JOLLY

Not that all the proceeds have gone to Amsterdam: De Ligt and Mazraoui arrived from Bayern Munich, just as Andre Onana had taken the long route from the Netherlands, via a one-season stay at Internazionale. But Ajax cashed into the tune of £56m for Lisandro Martinez and, ridiculously, £86m for Antony.

De Ligt and Mazraoui, meanwhile, could debut for United against Fulham along with Joshua Zirkzee, a compatriot of the centre-back and the United manager. There is a theme: 11 of Ten Hag’s 20 signings for the club have played in the Netherlands, though the Eredivisie only stands sixth in Uefa’s rankings. They include the less-than-prolific Wout Weghorst – two goals in 31 games – and the invariably injured Tyrell Malacia. They include Mason Mount, from his loan spell at Vitesse Arnhem, and Christian Eriksen, though he left Ajax nine years before joining United. They include Sofyan Amrabat, who played for Ten Hag at Utrecht. If Ten Hag had got his way in 2022, they would have included Frenkie de Jong, too.

If New York was once called New Amsterdam, perhaps that tag should now be applied to Manchester. And yet Ten Hag, in a defence of his spending, insisted signings were not driven by nepotism and that there was widespread agreement about them.

“Not for favouritism,” he said. “First of all, it is club decisions, none of them is only my decision. It is always backed or even brought up through the scouting, recruitment, technical director or sporting director. It is a decision made by more than only one. But, some, you know also players and personalities and it has to fit also in the finance.”