Ratcliffe demanding Ten Hag immediately changes role despite staying at Man Utd

Ratcliffe and his football operations team have built a new structure at the club, where recruitment of players is taken away from Ten Hag, who will instead focus on coaching the first-team squad, and handed to the football operations team.

Despite his relief at holding on to his job, Ten Hag could decide to push back on such a major change, which could ultimately scupper any hope of an agreement being reached on a new deal.

The 54-year-old Dutchman has long declared his belief that a manager must have total control if they are to be successful, a mantra shared by his most illustrious predecessor, Sir Alex Ferguson.

After his appointment at United was confirmed, Ten Hag said he would not have taken the job had he not been granted full control of the transfer policy at Old Trafford.

“I set requirements about how I want to work,” said Ten Hag. “If they aren’t granted, I won’t do it. I am ultimately responsible and accountable for results.

“I don’t want to be the sole ruler, I stand for cooperation, but control of transfers is a condition for me.”

Part of the two-and-a-half week end of season review by Ratcliffe’s football leaders team focused on player recruitment, with Ten Hag having overseen a £400million spend in two years.

While there have been some successes in his recruitment, notably the £45m spent on defender Lisandro Martinez, there have been some costly errors, in particular £85m flop Antony, while £60m signing Mason Mount spent most of last season injured.

Against that backdrop, the newly-installed United hierarchy are determined to control the recruitment side going forward, which could lead to major tensions with Ten Hag.

The Dutchman is known to have been angry at the lack of public backing from Ratcliffe when he took control of football operations back in February.

As part of his defence to stay in charge, Ten Hag presented United’s hierarchy with stats sheets showing the full extent of the injury crisis last season, which meant he was forced to field more than 35 different defensive combinations.

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