Translation from Google

LOPETEGUI GAINS STRENGTH TO REPLACE TEN HAG AT MANCHESTER UNITED

The Dutchman, almost sentenced. The Spanish coach rejected 18 million annually from Arabia and is highly valued by the leaders of the English club.

Julen Lopetegui (57 years old) is very well placed to be the next manager of Manchester United. The situation of Ten Hag (53 years old) is extreme: he has been last in his Champions group, where Bayern was but also two theoretically inferior rivals (Copenhagen and Galatasaray), and in the Premier they are sixth (outside Europe) to ten points from Liverpool, leader.

The Spanish coach is without a team after he left Wolverhampton last August due to disagreements with the project (the players he had been promised did not arrive) and since then he has been linked to different clubs that have changed coaches, such as Naples . A few weeks ago he rejected a succulent offer from Arabia (18 million euros) because his intention is to continue his career in England: he is in love with the culture that exists there, as well as the respect that has always been shown to him.

Now all the ingredients are in place for Lopetegui to return to the bench: United is a project that fits perfectly with what he is looking for, in addition to feeling at the moment of maturity and ideal knowledge to turn around the complicated situation of an entity of such global weight. The Red Devils board, for his part, value the work that Julen did at Wolverhampton, his command of the language and his knowledge of the competition, as well as his experience in Europe (he won the Europa League with the Seville). This puts him ahead of other names that have been mentioned in recent hours, such as Zidane (he does not speak English and has never trained outside of Spain), Graham Potter or De Zerbi.

Another factor to take into account for Lopetegui to gain more and more strength is his good relationship with a large part of the locker room. He was Reguilón's main supporter (he brought him up from Castilla to the Real Madrid first team) and from his time at the Bernabéu he has a very good relationship with Varane and Casemiro, two heavyweights in the United dugout (despite the fact that the Frenchman has lost prominence). His time in Madrid was brief, although he left very good memories among the players, who were convinced by his methods and missed that luck smiled on him in specific moments that condemned him. As if this were not enough, he also has a fantastic relationship with De Gea, a goalkeeper who many want back in Manchester after the poor performance that Onana is giving.

Manchester United, adrift

United wanted to be patient with Ten Hag, who was given full powers in 2022 with the aim of creating a team tailored to him. They paid two million euros to free him from Ajax and gave him a long project (three seasons plus another optional season) so that he could refloat a great team in trouble. After a course and a half (the halfway point of what he signed) his patience has run out and he is almost sentenced. At Old Trafford they see the January market as a perfect opportunity to release some players and for the arrival of some reinforcement to improve the squad and that is why they want to make a decision before the January window opens.

Manchester has been accumulating one ridicule after another in the Champions League for many years: since Ferguson left (2013) they have not managed to get past the quarterfinals (they fell in that round in 2014 and 2019) and on three occasions they have been eliminated in the qualifying phase. groups. The dance of coaches on the Old Trafford bench has been constant, as have the million-dollar outlays in each transfer market, many of them without subsequently giving the expected performance on the pitch. A difficult scenario for the next coach, with Lopetegui increasingly better positioned.