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Erik ten Hag leaned on Jadon Sancho for advice on how to stop Erling Haaland.
Stopping the Man City striker has been nearly impossible as he has scored 11 Premier League goals in seven games with only Bournemouth having ruled him out so far.
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Nobody could stop Haaland this season
Rival players even talk to each other in order to glean information about what it’s like to face him, not that it helped.
One person who knows him more than most is former Borussia Dortmund teammate Sancho.
The two will face off in the Manchester derby on Sunday.
“It’s our job as staff to look at someone like Haaland ahead of time. If an individual makes a huge contribution, we have to analyze it,” Ten Hag said.
“But of course you also talk with your players. When someone has played in the past with a particular opponent, like Sancho and Haaland, you ask them.
Manchester United were one of the teams linked with Haaland this summer, but they weren’t even on the list of suitors.
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Sancho and Haaland have formed a strong partnership at Dortmund
Haaland’s father, Alf-Inge, revealed in a documentary that they used a point system to determine his next move.
When this was put to Ten Hag and the United boss asked how the club go about attracting the best players in the world, he retorted: “We already have them.”
Pushed to develop, the Dutchman said: “Let’s say they have the potential, some have the potential to become (the best in the world) and some are already there.
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Ten Hag insists Man United can still attract the best players
“Because we have world champion players in our team today, so they are the best in the world. You can say that. We have a lot of players who are already winning the biggest titles in the world.
“I’m sure when I come back in the window a lot of players think Man United is a really attractive club for them, so I’m not concerned about that.”
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