Erik ten Hag is under pressure (Picture: Getty)
Former Chelsea defender William Gallas believes that Manchester United should steer clear of Thomas Tuchel if they decide to sack Erik ten Hag.
Ten Hag’s future as United boss appears to be hanging in the balance with United sitting 14th in the Premier League and without a win in five.
The club’s senior hierarchy, including majority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, met in London on Tuesday but no clarity was offered on the Dutchman’s future following the meeting.
Having openly courted replacements before last season’s FA Cup final, the club has a number of preferred targets on their shortlist to replace Ten Hag should they chose to sack him.
Tuchel, who left Bayern Munich at the end of last season, is said to be one of the early favourites to replace Ten Hag at Old Trafford.
And the German, who won the Champions League with Chelsea, is said to be open to the possibility of a return to the Premier League having already held talks with United last summer.
However, not everyone is convinced that Tuchel is the right fit to replace Ten Hag, with Gallas fearing the pressure-cooker environment may prove too much for the 51-year-old.
Thomas Tuchel won the Champions League with Chelsea in 2021 (Picture: Getty)
In fact, the former French defender believes that replacing Ten Hag would be such a thankless task that every manager should be wary about taking the United job if he was sacked.
‘Could Thomas Tuchel deal with the pressure of being Manchester United manager? I don’t think any manager can,’ he told Prime Casino.
‘Look at how many managers have failed to win the Premier League since Sir Alex Ferguson left, the pressure and the expectation is too much for anyone.
‘Look at Erik ten Hag and his team losing 3-0 at home to Tottenham only a few weeks after losing 3-0 at home to Liverpool, looking at the team and their body language, it looks like they have lost their characters.
Gallas believes that United’s players are waiting for Ten Hag to be sacked (Picture: Getty)
‘Even though they drew against Aston Villa, the players are not happy at the moment under Ten Hag and that is showing.’
Regardless, Galas insists that United must pull the plug on Ten Hag’s tenure in charge and said a top-four finish will be out of reach if the Dutchman stays in charge.
‘It looks like the players have stopped fighting for the manager, but they should still be fighting for the club and the fans,’ he added.
‘I don’t think they have a good connection to the manager and because of that you can tell what is going to happen in every game.
‘They start off focused but when they concede they all drop off and it’s not a good mentality.
‘At the moment it looks like the players are just waiting for the manager to get sacked, they got a good result away to Aston Villa but it’s still one point from two games having lost at home to Tottenham, it’s not good enough.’
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