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Manchester United may have returned to winning ways in the Premier League at the weekend but the race for to-four is likely to elude them this term.
They are eight points behind Aston Villa in fourth and six points behind Tottenham Hotspur who are fifth but have a game in hand.
Judging by the team’s form this campaign, they should be more wary of losing sixth place to the likes of West Ham United and Brighton who are only four and five points behind respectively.
The FA Cup represents the team’s best chance at qualifying for Europe next season but Liverpool are up next in the quarterfinals.
EtH’s uncertain future
Even winning that competition might not be enough to keep Erik ten Hag in the hot seat with new minority stakeholders INEOS talking to multiple candidates regarding replacing the Dutchman.
One of the top contenders linked with the Old Trafford job is current Germany national coach Julian Nagelsmann who is set to have a busy summer with the European Championships coming up.
According to Sky Sport Germany, the former Bayern Munich boss is keen to return to club football and his plan is to do so after the Euros.
⚠️ Excl. News #Nagelsmann: He wants to make a future decision before the EUROs! Possibly in April or May …
➡️ Ideally he wants to announce a new club before the tournament!
Nagelsmann wants to make a conscious decision early to have clarity. During the tournament and just… pic.twitter.com/tetBSOis4l
— Florian Plettenberg (@Plettigoal) March 11, 2024
As reported by Florian Plettenberg, Nagelsmann wants to agree a move before the tournament commences, so as to avoid any distractions during the course of the competition.
“Nagelsmann wants to make a future decision before the EUROs! Possibly in April or May. Ideally he wants to announce a new club before the tournament!” the journalist wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Keen to return
“Nagelsmann wants to make a conscious decision early to have clarity. During the tournament and just before it, he wants to fully focus on the tournament and not make his future a topic.”
It could mean his future club could be without their boss ahead of preparing plans for pre-season but that is unlikely to stop interested parties from swooping for the former RB Leipzig coach.
There is also the potential cost of sacking Ten Hag, which may rise to as high as £10 million.
INEOS are expected to be ruthless and for them, money does not seem to be an obstacle should they want their man as seen from their chase of Newcastle’s sporting director Dan Ashworth.
It will be interesting to see how this pans out. Ten Hag will be hoping results and displays can improve in the days to come as he seeks to continue in the job.
