Reporter claims Ruud van Nistelrooy is being lined up as next Man United manager | OneFootball

The Sun’s Neil Custis has quite a reputation among Manchester United fans due to his somewhat inventive and controversial reporting on the club’s business.

Custis was the unfortunate reporter who was on the end of Louis van Gaal’s verbal assault during a 2016 press conference, when he referred to him as “fat man” following criticism of Wayne Rooney’s performances.

Whatever fans may think of the brash reporter, a broken clock is right twice a day, and it may be that Custis is on to something in his latest piece on Erik ten Hag and his future.

Custis was covering the news from yesterday that Ten Hag’s new deal at United is not a new deal at all, but rather the triggering of the extension clause of his existing contract.

The reporter noted that “It is not the ringing endorsement of a new four or five-year deal.

“The 12-month pay-off will stay the same if what seemed inevitable at the end of the last Premier League season is delayed until the next one if things do not start well.”

Then comes the interesting part: “right now the strings are being pulled from different directions, with Ten Hag in danger of being the puppet.

“After all, the coaching team he put together has been dismantled and replaced, with Go Ahead Eagles boss Rene Hake and club goalscoring legend Ruud van Nistelrooy coming in.

“Or the future manager and assistant, if you listen to more cynical watchers of what is going on at the club.”

It is certainly an interesting theory.

Part-owners Ineos, who run football operations at Old Trafford, interviewed for replacements for Ten Hag this summer before deciding to stick with the Dutchman. Talks of a fancy new contract seemed strange; why award someone a new deal when you are clearly not convinced? In the end, just the extension was announced.

Ten Hag was allowed free rein over transfers before Ineos arrived and it became a standing joke that he only fished in the Eredivisie, past or present, or Dutch national side, for players. Lisandro Martinez, Tyrell Malacia, Christian Eriksen, Andre Onana, Antony, loanee Wout Weghorst and his unfruitful pursuit of Frenkie de Jong were all examples.

But strangely, in Ineos’ first window, the trend continues: this summer’s targets include Joshua Zirkzee and Matthijs de Ligt, while the likes of Van Nistelrooy, Hake and goalkeeping coach Jelle ten Rouwelaar are being added to the coaching staff.

Why would Ineos be filling Old Trafford with even more Dutch faces while the jury is still out on Ten Hag?

Could the answer, as Custis says, be that Van Nistelrooy is being groomed to take over the role a little further down the line?

Could it be that Ineos’ policy of recruiting young, hungry, up-and-coming players also extends to their recruitment of managers? Van Nistelrooy certainly fits that mould. It could be said he over-achieved at PSV Eindhoven before he fell out with the board. His legendary status at United, like Ole Gunnar Solskjaer before him, would make him a popular choice with United fans.

And his management could be tested on a trial basis. If Ten Hag were to be sacked, say, in six months, Van Nistelrooy, having become familiar with the players and the club, could step in as interim head coach (as Solskjaer did), and graduate to the permanent job if he proved himself worthy (as Solskjaer also did).

It would also explain why the 48 year old withdrew from the race to become manager of Burnley to take an assistant’s job.

All of this is, of course, speculation, but there is certainly a whiff of truth in Custis’ shocking suggestion. And that is not something this writer says every day.

Want to be the first to hear breaking Man United news? For carefully selected, crucial updates, join our WhatsApp channel: https://bit.ly/United-Breaking-News.