"We are going in the direction..." - Ten Hag outlines Man Utd summer transfer strategy as Newcastle warning sent

Erik ten Hag outlined Manchester United’s summer transfer strategy.

Last night United claimed a 1-0 win against Brentford, to leapfrog Tottenham Hotspur and reclaim a top-four spot.

The only goal of the game came courtesy of Marcus Rashford, whose 28-goal haul this term equals the best return of a United player since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement ten years ago.

And while United have made big strides this term and claimed the Carabao Cup, their first trophy in six years, they have been tipped to make several new signings in the summer window.

A priority appears to be the striker position, with the club still having been reliant on misfiring loanee Wout Weghorst since the acrimonious departure of Cristiano Ronaldo in November.

Meanwhile, United are thought to be pursuing a new right-back and have been linked to the likes of Jeremie Frimpong.

Ten Hag outlines United transfer plans

The United hierarchy splashed £225million on players last summer, a club record for one window.

However, speaking ahead of United’s 2-0 defeat to Newcastle, Ten Hag insisted that success is not just down to money, raising his Ajax side that came within seconds of the 2018/19 Champions League final as an example.

Newcastle have spent £300million on the likes of Alexander Isak, Bruno Guimaraes, Kieran Trippier and Sven Botman since the start of 2021 with the promise of more to come.

The United boss explained: "Money is one thing, but another thing is strategy.

“When I was at Ajax we had a low budget in comparison to many clubs in the Champions League and still we won the groups, we came in semi-final and were close to the final. So it's possible to beat teams with higher budgets."

“From my analysis, we are going in the direction. I think we are building a base this season but we have to progress. You can do that by developing the team.

"You have to play better in every game and in every training (session) you can develop your way of playing and that's what we are doing.

"We are setting higher demands and standards for our players every time and for the rest in the summer, we will see.

“Just now that's not our focus point. Just now it's a better way of play so we have a better chance of winning games."

Topics: Manchester United, Erik Ten Hag, Newcastle United, Transfers, Premier League

Chris Byfield

Sport journalist with experience writing on football, rugby, boxing and the Olympics. I'm also a Crystal Palace fan. Please don't hold this against me.