Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag is discovering he's got his work cut-out trying to get a tune out of some of the players signed by predecessor Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
The Dutchman has overseen an impressive turnaround in form after a shaky start to the season and morale around Old Trafford is the best it's been for quite some time. With that being said, not every player is pulling their weight under Ten Hag's guidance and he has an issue on his hands trying to get them operating at the required level.
So far, Ten Hag's transfer market prowess has proved impressive. He signed off on deals for Tyrell Malacia, Lisandro Martinez, Christian Eriksen, Antony and Casemiro with all five so far proving to be a successful purchase. Deputy goalkeeper Martin Dubravka was the sixth signing of the summer and is yet to actually make an appearance for the club.
The same cannot be said about Solskjaer's nous in the market, given that all of the players Ten Hag isn't seemingly sold on came from the Norwegian's time at the club. There is £250million worth of talent that is either underperforming at Old Trafford, exiled out on loan elsewhere or even gone for good.
Much-maligned club captain Harry Maguire is the most obvious guilty party. Since arriving for a huge fee of £85m in the summer of 2019, rarely has the England international ever enjoyed a run of form that justified that kind of price tag.
Maguire has found minutes hard to come by under Ten Hag this term, who clearly favours a central defensive partnership of Martinez alongside Raphael Varane. The ex-Leicester defender has had to be happy with the Europa League group stages being his main source of game time.
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Aaron Wan-Bissaka hasn't exactly fared much better. While he hasn't attracted quite the same amount of criticism, for £50m United fans would expect more than for him to be serving as Diogo Dalot's deputy. The former Crystal Palace defender's stock has fallen so low he has reportedly been informed by Ten Hag he is free to leave the club next summer if a suitor emerges.
Donny van de Beek could arguably be the most curious case of all. The ex-Ajax man was enticed away from the Dutch champions for a fee of £40m and was barely used for the first 18 months of his time at the club under Solskjaer.
An underwhelming loan spell with Everton for the second half of the 2021/22 campaign failed to inspire any kind of form out of Van de Beek and he has since returned to Old Trafford even further down the midfield pecking order than when he left.
Ten Hag's appointment sparked hope that Van de Beek could turn the tide on his flatlining United career given the pair worked together at Ajax, but that has not been the case.
The 25-year-old has played just five matches across all competitions this season - featuring for a combined 19 minutes in total when it comes to Premier League action.
The signings of Alex Telles and Dan James came to a combined fee of £30m and just two years later both are plying their trade elsewhere. The former is currently out on loan with LaLiga outfit Sevilla, while the latter has departed on a permanent basis to Leeds.
Both failed to really ever make the grade at United, hence James' permanent departure, but it is unlikely Telles ever becomes a permanent fixture under Ten Hag either.
Solskjaer went big on young Atalanta forward Amad and forked out a whopping £38m to bring him to the club. Looking back, spending that much money on a player that had less than 20 games-worth of major senior football experience may not have been the shrewdest investment.
Having failed to break into the United first-team and struggling on loan at Rangers, Amad is finally getting some joy during his second-loan spell away from Old Trafford with Sunderland.
Black Cats boss Tony Mowbray recently likened him to Liverpool starlet Harvey Elliot, so it would be wise not to write off Amad just yet. At 20 years of age, there's every chance Ten Hag does try to reintegrate him into the first-team fold at some point.
It is a similar story for Facundo Pellistri, who was bought for around £7m from Uruguayan outfit Penarol two years ago but is still yet to feature in a competitive clash for United.
He spent last term on loan with Spanish side Alaves, but failed to register a single goal or assist in 21 LaLiga outings. Ten Hag has quite the task trying to turn United into the force they once were and get all of the aforementioned remaining Red Devils firing at the same time.
