Football Features

Man Utd summer transfer news, odds & predicted Erik ten Hag starting line-ups

By Squawka News

Published: 17:00, 28 August 2024

Erik ten Hag is currently enjoying a third season in charge of Manchester United and after slumping to eighth place last season, the pressure will be on the Dutchman to deliver. 

Yes, Ten Hag guided the Red Devils to a shock FA Cup final win over Manchester City at the end of 2023/24 — his second trophy in two years at Old Trafford — but this is a club that expects nothing less than consistently challenging for the Premier League title.

With that in mind, this is a big summer with the transfer window about to close. Joshua Zirkzee was United’s first major signing of the window. Talented French defender Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt, and Noussair Mazraoui soon followed him, while the club received a reasonable fee for Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Hannibal Mejbri, and Willy Kambwala. Additionally, they were able to remove Raphael Varane and Anthony Martial from their wage bill.

But there’s potentially more to come. Here, we look at the strong rumours and bookmakers’ favourites for who else United might sign, building some possible starting XIs we could see from Ten Hag this season.

Manuel Ugarte

“We need to sign an extra striker in the summer,” Ten Hag said at the end of last season, adding: “And if we can sign another central midfielder and a replacement for Varane, things will look good again. If the team remains fit we can try and aim for top four again.”

So, Zirkzee and Yoro tick two of those boxes, with a central midfielder to play between Bruno Fernandes and Kobbie Mainoo now the next position on the list.

The latest reports are the Red Devils have agreed to a £42.3 million fee with Paris Saint-Germain for Uruguayan midfielder Manuel Ugarte. The deal includes the potential for an additional £8.5 million in payments. This news comes at the same time as reports of midfielder Scott McTominay’s proposed £25.4 million move to Napoli.

Ugarte is a monstrous defensive presence at the base of midfield, with his 98 tackles and 40 interceptions in Ligue 1 last season 46 and 13 clear, respectively, of any other PSG player. With the 23-year-old only joining PSG from Sporting CP last summer for a reported €60m fee and excelling since, it may cost United a pretty penny to get this one done. But given how much Ten Hag’s midfield lacked bite and legs last season, they’ll be pulling out all the stops. 

Ivan Toney

Despite Zirkzee joining Rasmus Hojlund among Ten Hag’s striking options, The Athletic reports that United may still target another No.9 this summer. Their report names Ivan Toney as a possible candidate and it’s thought that Brentford are now willing to slash their asking price after failing to generate as much interest as they initially expected.

Toney started well after returning from his eight-month ban last season, scoring four goals in his first five appearances back. However, he dropped off dramatically thereafter, failing to score in any of his next 12 outings, notching just two assists.

Of course, we know Toney is capable of much better, as evidenced by his 20-goal return in 2022/23 and the service he’d get from the likes of Bruno Fernandes and Alejandro Garnacho would surely offer up plenty more chances.

If the price is right, this may well make a lot of sense.

Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin was also mentioned in the same report as a player United have had ‘internal conversations’ about. He’s currently a 16/1 bet to join Man Utd. However, Newcastle (10/1), Arsenal (6/1), and Chelsea (15/8) are priced better.

Three ways Man Utd could line up in 2024/25

Dutch delight

We know Ten Hag will likely go for a 4-3-3 formation and in this scenario, he’s secured the signing of De Ligt and starts Zirkzee up front to sprinkle a little Dutch delight over the Old Trafford turf. And you’ll notice Ugarte doing the dirty work to free up Mainoo and Fernandes to go to town on the ball.

This feels like the most likely and strongest possible XI based on the players United are currently targeting or have already signed.

England FC

Jadon Sancho looked set to stay at Old Trafford after he and Ten Hag kissed and made up but reports suggest he could be on his way to Stamford Bridge with Raheem Sterling coming the other way. If United sign Toney, that could see them field an all-English front three. The above line-up has six English players featured and there’s potentially room for one more but that would mean Mason Mount getting into United’s midfield ahead of Ugarte which seems very unlikely.

Spirit of 99

4-4-2. Two strikers who love crosses. Wingers on their strong foot. Is this Manchester United 1999 style?

Okay, so we’re not saying this side really has a patch on the likes of Beckham, Keane and Scholes. And Ten Hag probably has less chance of playing 4-4-2 than he does of signing Erling Haaland this summer. But it’s still fun to think about.

We haven’t seen 4-4-2 at Old Trafford in some time, but the injury-time goals remain. “Oh what a night!”

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