Manchester United’s struggle to relaunch its new era under Erik ten Hag proves that the club has lost its “prestige” and its power of attraction.
According to former star Tom Cleverley, top stars have already taken pay cuts just for the privilege of signing for the Premier League giants – it now looks like they don’t want to come to Old Trafford.
The Red Devils are far from the dominant force they have been in previous eras.
Once the poster boy for the Premier League, with 13 league titles since the English top flight was rebranded in 1992, the club are now struggling to reestablish themselves in the top four.
The days of challenging at the top under Sir Alex Ferguson are over, and have been for several years, approaching a decade since their last title win.
Ralf Rangnick earned the club a sixth-place finish last season, and manager Erik ten Hag has now entered with the aim of rebuilding the squad of players and building an identity that can see them return to competition at the top of the table in coming years.
Cleverley, who graduated from United’s famed youth academy before making 79 appearances for the first team, knows exactly what playing for United meant for young players making their way into the game.
But he admits that the motivation for emerging talent, and even the game’s top stars, is very different these days.
Asked if it was a shock to see where United are, Cleverley told talkSPORT Breakfast: “It is, but I think [former manager] Sir Alex Ferguson played an important role in it.
“People would really take less money just to say they played for Manchester United, but I think that’s going slowly now, or gone.
“Young players are being offered so much money and it seems their goal is to get as much money as possible rather than having the prestige of playing for Manchester United.
“I never thought we would get to this stage where it’s not intimidating to go there as an away player.
“The worst thing is that the two places where you are most scared are Man United’s biggest rivals in Man City and Liverpool.
“Those are the two places where you go and think about damage limitation.”
United landed three new signings this summer in Christian Eriksen, Lisandro Martinez and Tyrell Malacia but have been frustrated in their search for new signings.
Former Ajax boss Ten Hag has failed in his pursuit of one of his former players, Antony, while a three-month chase for Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong could end with the player surrendering to Chelsea instead.
And Cleverley – now from Watford – has suggested his former club take a close look at one of their other big Premier League rivals for inspiration as they rebuild, with shrewd signings and a focus on their own young stars.
“I hope Man United can improve, they have the right manager to do that,” he added.
“It was a bad start for him [a 2-1 opening day defeat to Brighton] but rather than thinking about trophies and titles, it’s about improvement – much like the way Arsenal do it.
“As far as the long-term direction goes, they need to find a different path, which is what they’re struggling with in the market right now.”
While this suggestion is unlikely to go down well at Old Trafford, the process Mikel Arteta has undertaken certainly seems to be reaping the rewards.
While the Gunners missed out on the top four last season, their focus in recent years has turned to building a young and exciting squad around homegrown stars such as Aaron Ramsdale, Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe, while adding experienced players with a point to prove like Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus this summer.
For United, the challenge for Ten Hag will be to rebuild the team in his image, while ensuring fans’ expectations are met in the short term.
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