ERIK TEN HAG landed in Oslo with an excruciating hangover.
Not from excess bubbles, as they didn’t burst the cork less than six weeks ago at Wembley when he conceded an FA Cup Final defeat to neighbor Manchester City.
No, it’s about all the problems that still follow him as he tries to rebuild for next season.
He really should still enjoy the success of a nice first season in charge.
The Dutchman led the club back to the Champions League in third place overall.
They lifted their first silver trophy since 2017 with a Carabao Cup Final win over Newcastle.
There should have been a lot of positives from reaching that FA Cup Final as well.
Sadly, it just shows the football world how far they are from treble winner Manchester City in the most one-sided 2-1 win you’ll ever see.
So what might be considered success for some clubs is not for United because the immediate question Ten Hag trudged away from Wembley was ‘what now?’
And right now, he is set to face Leeds United on Wednesday night without the number one goalkeeper with David de Gea gone and a bit stuck in trying to sign Andre Onana from Inter Milan.
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No 9 recognized with Harry Kane’s hopes of arrival long snuffed out earlier this summer with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy refusing to do business with the Red Devils.
That has led them to run to Serie A in hopes of acquiring the 20-year-old Dane, who scored 10 goals last season for Atalanta, and they have yet to reach a deal for him.
The Italians somehow believe that Rasmus Hojlund is worth £50m, United are not.
The thought of starting the season with Anthony Martial in attack is unthinkable.
Have you ever seen a United player show little interest in football, it was on the odd occasion that he wasn’t injured.
Then there is also a seemingly forgotten situation surrounding goalscorer Marcus Rashford, who hit a career-best 30 tally in 56 games last season.
The problem is that he has yet to agree to a new contract entering the final year of his current contract.
Ten Hag won’t like it but questions will continue in every press conference as to why that hasn’t been resolved.
The thought of starting the season with Anthony Martial in attack was unthinkable
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Will that affect the player who wants to stay but has yet to come to a compromise with the club setting a maximum salary of £300,000 a week?
As reported by SunSport, Rashford is ready to see who the new owners are and what they can offer.
Oh yes, new owner. That has now lasted since November.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim struggle to buy a club the not-so-famous Glazer family believes is worth £6 billion and they clearly aren’t.
The outrage over no deal being done, as the carrot of hope dangled in front of the global fan base during the past World Cup continues to grow.
Is that the setting where Ten Hag wants every home game to feature parades, banners and chants?
But those fans have the right to protest and won’t give up until tickets are sold out.
The club has spent big over the past decade but over the years more than £1 billion has also disappeared into the black hole with the debt the club enjoyed by the takeover of Glazer needing to be paid off.
Balancing the books at Old Trafford leaves them with just £120m to spend this season.
Now, £55m rising to £60m in surcharges has gone to Mason Mount, the only positive that has come from this summer so far with his arrival from Chelsea.
So there is not much left to get a recognized goalkeeper and striker if it is not possible to change the defense.
Unfortunately for Ten Hag no one seems willing to buy Martial, Fred, Scott McTominay or club captain Harry Maguire.
Problem, problem.
It’s all too much for David Moyes and Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho explodes, while Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s dream is close but without that cigar we see Pep Guardiola smoking very often at the end of each Season.
Ten Hag loves to dance to success as he did on the pitch at Ajax.
He repeated it to Antony and Lisandro Martinez as they beat Newcastle at Wembley.
Unfortunately, right now, he’s jumping through hoops.
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