Erik ten Hag could have 'phased out' Man Utd's top earners by end of January transfer window

A number of Manchester United's top earners could leave Old Trafford in the January transfer window after being 'phased out' by manager Erik ten Hag.

After what has been a turbulent period of recruitment under Ten Hag, it appears incoming owner Jim Ratcliffe will have some big decisions to make when it comes to incomings and outgoings.

Ratcliffe, who is set to acquire a 25 per cent share of the club from the Glazer family this month for a reported £1.3 billion, will have an influence over the sporting side of the business.

He is expected to improve the club's aging infrastructure, as well as United's much-talked about recruitment strategy,

And according to The Daily Mail, one of Ratcliffe's first big decisions could be around the futures of both Casemiro and Raphael Varane, who are currently the club's top two earners.

Casemiro, who arrived from Real Madrid last summer on a four-year deal, is said to earn £350,000 per-week at United, according to Spotrac data.

The Brazilian midfielder has been strongly linked with a move away from Old Trafford of late after struggling for first-team minutes following a series of fitness issues.

And a report from TEAMtalk suggests United's top earner has been slapped with a £50 million price tag by United.

Varane, meanwhile, has also fallen out of favour with Erik ten Hag. In fact, Varane's relationship with the Dutch manager has reportedly broken down after an incident last month.

The French centre-back, who is said to earn £340,000 per-week, has been linked with a move to Bundesliga side Bayern Munich, but his wages could prove a stumbling block.

Another one of United's top earners, Jadon Sancho, has also been touted to leave United in the January window after falling out with Erik ten Hag.

Sancho, who earns £250,000 per-week – which would make him the Premier League club's sixth highest earner – has not featured since September after he refused to apologise to his manager in a row over his efforts in training.

After Ten Hag publicly called out Sancho in a press conference, the player responded by claiming he had been made a 'scapegoat' by the United boss – branding his claims 'completely untrue'.

Sancho has since refused to apologise and remains banned from first-team activities.

That being said, Ratcliffe will reportedly order manager Ten Hag to end his ongoing feud with Sancho, and will try to find a way to reintegrate the former Borussia Dortmund winger.

As you can from the tweet below, Twitter user Viran posted a screenshot of United's 2022/23 earnings from Capology, saying: "Ten Hag’s phasing them out one by one..."

Ten Hag’s phasing them out one by one… LUHG were right pic.twitter.com/xUDvYYfOBO

— Viran🇲🇾 (@MadnessFc4) November 24, 2023

Thoughts on the current transfer situation at Old Trafford? Let us know in the comments.