Erik ten Hag set to bring in Davy Klaassen and Ronaldo says they are vast in experience and stability 

Erik ten Hag set to bring in Davy Klaassen and Ronaldo says they are vast in experience and stability 

 

Erik ten Hag, Davy Klaassen and Ronaldo.

Ronaldo has ‘cranked up the pressure’ on Erik ten Hag with his bitter ramblings; just wait until he realises who is next through the door.

 

Do one Ron, Ron

Manchester United posting substantial losses is bona fide bad news for the club, but The Sun bundling that together with Ronaldo taking a pot-shot at the man who chased his arse out of the club should absolutely not be filed under the same ‘MORE BAD NEWS FOR RED DEVILS’ headline.

 

‘CRISTIANO RONALDO took a fresh swipe at Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag’s attitude for saying they are not ready to win big titles’, is this latest brutal blow to the Dutchman, according to Martin Blackburn.

 

But Blackburn should know – and note – that Ten Hag has recently said the exact opposite. And that seems important when you are claiming this as back-page news.

 

 

Indeed, Ten Hag said less than a month ago, just before the return of the Premier League: “We are confident, we have a good team, we have a good squad. We have to be more consistent and we want to win every competition in which we are taking part, definitely also the Premier League.”

 

You might think the Dutchman is a raving fantasist as his Manchester United team was last seen finishing eighth, but what you cannot question is his ambition. Unless you have an agenda. And the one thing Ronaldo has is an agenda.

 

On The Sun website, Blackburn goes further and takes us ‘Inside Ten Hag’s miserable international break with Ronaldo jibe, De Ligt struggles and Man Utd outcasts hard to shift’.

 

Blackburn then writes that ‘the Red Devils’ most famous old boy, Cristiano Ronaldo, cranked up the pressure with yet another pop at his former boss yesterday’.

 

 

First, is he Manchester United’s most famous old boy? He shouldn’t be.

 

As for ‘crank up the pressure’…what a load of old hairy bollocks. What’s ‘cranked up the pressure’ on Ten Hag is a 3-0 home defeat to Liverpool, not the bitter ramblings of a Manchester United reject who has since become a schill for Saudi Arabia.

 

That’ll tell you, Man Utd

These are worrying times for Erik ten Hag ahead of Saturday’s clash with Southampton and the Express have EVEN more bad news.

 

 

Man Utd told they should’ve sacked Erik ten Hag last week as preferred successor picked

 

(By Express readers, who voted in a poll).

 

Klaass action

‘Erik ten Hag old boy who fired brutal dig at Man Utd is option to replace Casemiro’ says the very, very desperate Daily Star.

 

 

And why is Davy Klaassen – for it is he – an option? Because he is on a list of free agents, we suspect. We also suspect that the man at the top of that list will be of slightly more interest to Manchester United, but Adrien Rabiot has never aimed a ‘brutal dig’ at Manchester United so, for the purposes of this particularly story, he is irrelevant.

 

What also seems to be irrelevant is that Manchester United have just spend over £40m on a Casemiro replacement, so the idea that they would then bring in a 31-year-old released by Inter Milan after one Serie A start seems just a tad far-fetched.

 

Mediawatch is also amused that Klaassen’s name is spelled incorrectly throughout the piece but we are rather more interested in the notion that ‘Former Ajax midfielder Davy Klassen has been earmarked by Manchester United as a possible replacement for the struggling Casemiro’, when the only person ‘earmarking’ him is clearly the Star’s own Will Evans.

 

He writes that there is ‘constant speculation’ about who will replace Casemiro, dismissing the signing of Manuel Ugarte as a trivial detail. Apparently, United also have to replace Scott McTominay. You might reasonably argue that Ugarte has taken McTominay’s place in the squad but shush.

 

One player who has been mentioned is Everton flop Davy Klassen.

 

By you, yes.

 

The 31-year-old’s time at Inter Milan last season didn’t go to plan as he made just 18 appearances – which raises question marks over whether he is good enough to be part of United’s squad.

 

You don’t really ‘raise question marks’ at all. But definitely not about entirely fabricated transfers.

 

Man Utd NOT as good as Liverpool, Man City and Arsenal

But the really bad news is yet to come, with the Manchester Evening News revealing ‘How Manchester United now compare themselves with Liverpool, Man City and Arsenal’.

 

They really do have the inside track on this subject. Not for them just looking at last year’s Premier League table and seeing that Manchester United finished 31, 29 and 22 points behind Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool.

 

No, they have secured word from inside Manchester United on how they compare themselves to those three clubs.

 

Senior figures at United privately admit City, Arsenal and Liverpool are effectively competing in their own mini league. “If they don’t win, it’s seen as a surprise,” one United source said.

 

And there you have it; those within Old Trafford believe last season’s dominant three teams are perceived as being really quite good.

 

Though Mediawatch is most amused by Samuel Luckhurst writing that ‘Brighton’s presence in third is not that incongruous. They were sixth less than 16 months ago and spent nearly £200million in the summer transfer window’.

 

It seems churlish to point out that Manchester United were third less than 16 months ago and yet they are now described as ‘mid-table fodder’. Now that is incongruous.