Pundit names manager capable of replacing Erik ten Hag at Manchester United

Erik ten Hag’s future at Manchester United is far from certain – the Dutchman’s back is up against the wall after a highly worrying second season at the club.

United have slipped far behind the Champions League hopefuls and their only chance of salvaging anything this season comes by way of the FA Cup.

It remains unclear how INEOS are planning to handle the situation and whether they will stick or twist with Ten Hag but Paul Merson, the former Arsenal star, has identified the man who he thinks should replace Ten Hag at the club.

“What lose out? Get beat by Coventry? Wow! He would be lucky if he got back on the coach. Would you? It cannot happen. It could happen, but there’s no way he would be back in the job. I think something has got to change here anyway,” Merson told Sky Sports, via The Boot Room, ahead of this weekend’s FA Cup semi-final against Coventry.

“Personally I think they need someone like an Ancelotti. I know it’s a quick fix, and I know Man United don’t need a quick fix, but if you watched the game the other night, Ancelotti is getting superstars to run themselves into the ground, superstars to run themselves into the ground, to leave nothing left on the pitch. That’s what I don’t see at Man United.

“For me, they need to win the FA Cup to have any chance of him keeping his job, in my opinion. Again, it would only have to be Ancelotti. I don’t see anybody else going in at Man United. I know it’s a quick fix, as I said, but they need to get back to basics. They need top players that are not even in the same breath as some of the players at Real Madrid to be working like the players at Real Madrid are. And, I don’t see that at the moment at Man United.”

Victory over Coventry on Sunday would secure back-to-back appearances in the FA Cup semi-final, with Manchester City and Chelsea going head-to-head for the other seat at the table.

Winning the FA Cup would mean that United have won silverware in consecutive seasons, having previously gone six campaigns without a trophy.

Ratcliffe is yet to express his stance on Ten Hag’s job publicly but he has made it clear that he wishes to secure the best in class at all levels.

United are heavy favourites going into this weekend’s trip to Wembley and a defeat would be near-impossible to recover from for Ten Hag.