Erik ten Hag has been tapping into the expertise of the man who masterminded Jonas Vingegaard’s Tour de France triumph last year.
Ten Hag is close friends with Merijn Zeeman, the director of crack Dutch cycling team Jumbo Visma.
Zeeman, whose riders are once again expected to feature heavily at the front of this year’s Tour, revealed before Saturday's Grand Depart in Bilbao, that he has been giving the United manager advice on how to get the best out of his players.
The pair first became friends when Ten Hag was coach of Dutch giants Ajax.
The United boss is a stickler for detail and a believer in the benefit of small gains.
Zeeman, 44, who still plays amateur football at the age of 44, revealed: “Erik recognised that in successful teams in football and cycling there is a lot of overlap.
“I like to look at what he is doing at Manchester United.
“In sport, people often think that if we put a puppet in place it will work.
“But it starts with a culture, then a structure, then a strategy and then you move on.
“Erik and I recognise this in each other and we think very much alike.
“We make it clear to everyone about what is our goal and how do we get there.”
Ten Hag has even drafted Zeeman into his inner circle at Old Trafford.
When United ensconced themselves in a winter training camp in Spain during the World Cup, the United boss brought his pal in to run the rule over the players who hadn’t gone to Qatar.
Zeeman added: “In the winter, I visited Erik for a number of the Manchester United training sessions in Spain.
“Erik said ‘tell what you see, give me some feedback.' He is very open to that.
“I must say that our culture in cycling is much more open between athletes and staff.
“We have a much stronger communication and relationship.
“With the footballers, I found the distance greater - and that was really visible in the hotel.
“There was much more of a hierarchy.
“So when Erik asked me for feedback, I told him that if he wants to develop players then there has to be much more one-to-one contact.”
Zeeman added: “Seeing the sheer size of Man United is really a bizarre thing to experience.
“Erik said to me that they have millions of fans all over the world and he can't even walk the streets anymore.
“They went to Thailand and Australia last summer, he could not leave the hotel.
“When I see how much outside pressure there is in football, it creates a very strange dynamic.
“For that reason, they must be able to sometimes have a reset about what they are actually doing.
“The question is how to focus primarily on the process when there are so many peripheral things happening on the outside that can have an influence on you.”
