Sacked Erik ten Hag “was on the verge” of resigning from Manchester United in the summer

Erik ten Hag reportedly came close to voluntarily stepping down from his role as Manchester United manager in the summer.

On Monday morning, United released a statement confirming the sacking of Ten Hag. He was dismissed following a woeful start to the new campaign.

The Red Devils are currently languishing in 14th position in the Premier League after the 2-1 loss to West Ham on Sunday.

Ruud van Nistelrooy has already taken charge on an interim basis while United search for a permanent manager.

Ten Hag came very close to losing his job in the summer but still somehow managed to cling on. United endured an extremely poor 2023/24 term that saw them finish in eighth place, their worst-ever finish since 1989/90.

For large parts of the season, the Reds were extremely poor although they received some respite at the end courtesy of winning the FA Cup at the expense of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City – an occurrence that played a big part in INEOS’ decision to afford Ten Hag more time to turn the situation around.

During a lengthy end-of-season review after the FA Cup final, United are believed to have held talks with a number of potential Ten Hag replacements including Thomas Tuchel, Mauricio Pochettino, Thomas Frank, Kieran McKenna and Marco Silva, just to name a few.

Eventually, nothing materialised and Ten Hag ended up staying but in hindsight, that appears to have been the wrong choice.

De Telegraaf journalist Mike Verweij reports that Ten Hag “was on the verge of resigning from” United during the summer when speculation over his future was rife.

According to Verweij, the 54-year-old coach was “fed up” with the constant criticism of his performance.

He was also annoyed with the conversations United were holding with other managers.

United return to Carabao Cup action on Wednesday when they host Steve Cooper’s Leicester City. Kick-off is at 19:45 BST.