Erik ten Tag has spent his first few days as Manchester United manager drawing up recruitment plans.
The Dutchman has met with football director John Murtough, technical director Darren Fletcher and chief executive Richard Arnold. Ralf Rangnick has been involved in discussions - although the man who stepped in as interim boss when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer departed in November has also been passing on information about the squad Ten Hag will inherit.
It’s fair to say that every player already at the club will be playing for their future from the moment Ten Hag takes his first training session on June 27. The message from Rangnick is that United’s bloated squad is not fit for purpose.
There has been natural wastage. Paul Pogba, Edinson Cavani, Juan Mata and Lee Grant are all at the end of their contracts, while Nemanja Matic has left by mutual consent. But Ten Hag will also have a fistful of players returning from loan spells and another significant group who will take some shifting as time ticks down on their lucrative contracts.
Anthony Martial will return from a disastrous loan spell at Sevilla which saw his commitment questioned. The Frenchman, who became the game’s most expensive teenager when United paid Monaco £36million seven years ago, still has two years left on a deal worth £240,000-a-week.
The clause in the deal with Monaco, which would have seen United hand over another £7.2million if Martial won the Ballon d’Or, has proved to be as fanciful as the suggestion that Cristiano Ronaldo ’s return last summer would transform the Reds into champions.
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Donny van de Beek couldn’t get a game at struggling Everton, Brandon Williams was relegated with Norwich, and Andreas Pereira’s mistake cost Flamengo the Copa Libertadores final.
At least Amad Diallo returns from Rangers with a Scottish Cup medal and Europa League experience - and at 19 hasn’t been damaged by the decline at Old Trafford. And James Garner has helped Nottingham Forest reach the Championship play-off final.
Despite being handed money to spend in the market, the bulk of the players who will determine the fate of Ten Hag’s first season are already at Old Trafford. David De Gea was one of the few United players to emerge from a nightmare season with his reputation enhanced.
Twelve months ago, United were looking to get the Spanish keeper’s £375,000-a-week salary off the wage bill. Now they want to talk about a new contract and it’s Dean Henderson who may be surplus to requirements. De Gea’s current deal has just 12 months to run - although United have the option of triggering a clause that would take him to 2024.
Ronaldo, Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw, Fred, Phil Jones, Axel Tuanzebe and youngsters Taith Chong, Alvaro Fernandez and Alandro Garnacho are working under the same schedule. While Diogo Dalot is already serving what is basically a 12-month notice period enforced by the club.
Victor Lindelof, Alex Telles, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Eric Bailly all have two years remaining. United should be either negotiating extensions or looking to cash in on players moving beyond their sell-by date. But the club has been frozen for the last six months while the excruciating search for a new manager has gone on.
Ten Hag insisted at Monday lunchtime that he has top-quality material to work with. He will hope that Bruno Fernandes can prove the theory about class being permanent after the boost of being handed a new double-your-money contract worth £240,000-a-week failed to bring him back to form.
Jadon Sancho did show brief signs that he was finding his feet at Old Trafford. But Harry Maguire’s confidence took such a shuddering hit that one of Ten Hag’s first tasks will be to decide whether to take the captaincy away from the England defender.
Raphael Varane is a Rolls Royce defender who has spent too much time in the repair shed, while Scott McTominay remains a midfielder who divides opinion on the Stretford End despite giving total commitment. The clock is already ticking for Ten Hag.
