Man Utd stars drop hint on Erik ten Hag’s future with ‘failed’ coach lined up

Erik ten Hag’s mood change has been noticed by Man Utd players (Picture: Getty)

Manchester United stars fear Erik ten Hag has accepted his fate and will be sacked as manager with Graham Potter lined up, according to reports.

The Dutchman’s mood has changed in recent weeks after poor results against Chelsea and Brentford, which has caught the attention of players in his squad.

United scored in the 96th minute to take a 1-0 lead at Brentford but then conceded in the 99th minute to draw in a massive blow to their top-four hopes.

Last week against Chelsea, United were leading 3-2 until the Blues scored twice deep into stoppage time in another embarrassing capitulation for the Red Devils.

United’s players have noticed Ten Hag’s change in demeanour and ex-Chelsea head coach Graham Potter ‘is in line’ to replace him, The Sun have reported, although England manager Gareth Southgate is also strongly linked to the role.

United legends Roy Keane and Gary Neville believe Southgate would make sense for the job at Old Trafford due to his strong relationship with Dan Ashworth.

Southgate, though, has distanced himself from that speculation, describing rumours linking him to United as ‘completely disrespectful’ to Ten Hag.

Potter, who recently turned down a job at Dutch club Ajax, has already held talks with United’s minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who is a big fan of the Englishman.

The former Brighton, Swansea and Ostersunds boss is also believed to have met with United’s incoming sporting director Ashworth.

Like Southgate, Potter and Ashworth have a close relationship and the former Chelsea boss could now be set to become United’s No.1 managerial target.

Graham Potter could be set to replace Erik ten Hag (Picture: Getty)

Ratcliffe previously tried to appoint Potter at French club Nice but he decided to reject that role in the hope of securing a bigger job.

Potter was sacked by Chelsea 12 months ago and has been out of work since but he is still widely regarded as a top manager for his work at his previous clubs.

He guided Brighton to a ninth-placed finish in the 2021-22 Premier League campaign, the highest season-ending league position in their history at the time.

The 48-year-old also took Swedish club Ostersunds from the fourth-tier to the top-flight for the first time ever and got them into the Europa League.

Potter was handed the Chelsea job in September 2022 – replacing Thomas Tuchel – but would only last until April 2023 after a poor run of results.

Speaking about his style of coaching, Potter told the Chelsea website in 2022: ‘I want a tactically flexible, attacking, possession-based team.

Graham Potter was sacked by Chelsea 12 months ago (Picture: Getty)

‘Players that are brave, that aren’t afraid to make mistakes. That can get on the ball and show courage and really try to enjoy their football.

‘If the players are enjoying their football, there’s a chance that the supporters will enjoy it as well.

‘That’s how you grow and develop as a club. Styles of play don’t make you win games. The challenge is having players believe in it and how it works.’

Gareth Southgate is also linked but has distanced himself from the job (Picture: Getty)

Not everyone is a fan of Potter, though, with pundit Gabby Agbonlahor urging United to snub him due to his ‘failed’ spell at Chelsea.

‘He failed at Chelsea,’ Agbonlahor told talkSPORT. ‘He doesn’t deserve his next club after failing at Chelsea to be Manchester United.

‘What does that say about Manchester United? They should go for someone and say, ‘You know what, Brighton, how much for [Roberto] De Zerbi? We’re going to go and get him’ – [Aston] Villa did that with Unai Emery. That’s what big clubs do.’

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Ratcliffe has refused to publicly back Ten Hag since his acquired 25 per cent of the club and took over United’s football operations.

Ten Hag guided United to Carabao Cup glory in his debut season in charge last term but his side have struggled this season – with the Red Devils looking unlikely to register a top-four finish with seven Premier League games left.

They crashed out of the Carabao Cup before the quarter-final stage and the FA Cup is their last chance of securing a trophy, with a semi-final against Coventry coming up on April 21.

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