3 Things We Learnt From Erik Ten Hag’s Bangkok Press Conference

With Manchester United set to face Liverpool tomorrow in their first pre-season friendly, the club are looking to hit the ground running under Erik ten Hag.

The side have had up to two weeks under the new manager, and many players have so far reported that training is hard and intense, but incredibly necessary.

Facing Liverpool will be a great test of progress for the squad.

With many questions surrounding the club ahead of the 2022/23 Premier League season, here are three things UtdDistrict learnt from today’s press conference:

Ronaldo is in Ten Hag’s Plans

"We are planning with Cristiano Ronaldo this season and that's it. I look forward to working with him."

This is how Erik ten Hag answered the question about Cristiano Ronaldo. The want-away striker is yet to join the squad for their pre-season tour, and the Dutchman has confirmed why.

"He's not with us,” Ten Hag explained, “and it's due to personal issues."

Cristiano Ronaldo scored 24 goals for Manchester United last term, with many of these goals being absolutely crucial to the side – scoring six goals in the Champions League a further 18 in the Premier League, as well as three assists.

"Cristiano is not for sale, he's in our plans and we want success together,” the new gaffer went on to confirm.

Erik ten Hag has also confirmed that he has spoken to Ronaldo, and that the conversation was “real good.”

"I spoke with him before this issue (surrounding his absence) came up. I had a conversation with him and had a real good talk."

When asked about what the conversation entailed, he replied: "That is between Cristiano and me.

“The only thing that I can confirm is that we had a real good conversation together."

Manchester United still expect Ronaldo to join them on their pre-season tour.

Harry Maguire to stay as captain

Another gigantic topic of conversation surrounding what decisions Ten Hag will make has been about the captaincy role.

Currently held by Harry Maguire, many fans have debated on potential other suitors for the role within the squad – with Ronaldo being one of them.

When quizzed on the topic, Erik ten Hag was firm in his answer: "Harry Maguire is the captain,” proclaimed the 52-year-old.

“I have to get to know all the players, but he's an established captain and he has achieved a lot of success."

Harry Maguire was elected as captain of Manchester United by Ole Gunnar Solskjær back in January 2020, and has kept the armband by his side ever since. When the Englishman has not played, the captaincy has fallen to a number of others, such as Raphael Varane, Cristiano Ronaldo and David de Gea.

Maguire remaining captain is yet to be seen, however unless Ten Hag has strong feelings about a different player leading the squad, one has to assume that the captaincy will not change in the foreseeable future.

Transfers have to be correct

A final topic that cannot be ignored is the 2022 transfer window. With Manchester United having only confirmed one signing so far in Tyrell Malacia, progress on improving a squad that saw five key players leave on free contracts earlier on this window has been limited.

When prompted on answers relating to transfer targets, Ten Hag gave a fairly definitive answer.

"We want to have the right players,” he explained. “We have a really good squad, we're working on developing our way of play and if the opportunity is there, we will strike."

A target for Ten Hag that has seen his name in headlines all summer so far is Frenkie de Jong. A question on the midfielder was unavoidable, but when it arrived, Ten Hag simply stated: "I'm not talking about players who are not under contract at Manchester United. I can't tell you anything about it."

The manager did explain the key areas he wants to strengthen, though: “We are searching for players in the midfield, and also in the offense."

Manchester United are set to announce the signing of Danish Christian Eriksen on a free contract at some point this week, with the player verbally agreeing to join the club over a week ago.

The club are also targeting Ajax defender Lisandro Martinez, and although negotiations are becoming difficult with the Amsterdam outfit, the player is reportedly ready to refuse to train should the clubs not reach an agreement soon.

Although Brazilian Antony has been linked often with the club in recent months, there is yet to be any contact about the player between United and Ajax, with a lack of certainty around Ronaldo’s future blocking a move for the player.