Ronaldo, Maguire and the 5 players Ten Hag must get rid of at Man Utd

FT Desk

• 14 Aug 2022 03:05 CDT
• 4 min read

Manchester United are in a deep malaise. Two Premier League games played, two defeats. Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Maguire are just the tip of the iceberg.

Erik ten Hag won his first three games in pre-season, but competitive football is a different animal and after opening the season with a 2-1 home defeat to Brighton, Man Utd were thrashed 4-0 by Brentford on Saturday.

Ten Hag said after the game that his team "need new players," but there are a fair few incumbents he needs to offload. Football Transfers looks at five of the worse...

Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo scored a team-high 18 Premier League goals last season, but his lack of pressing was part of the reason they finished sixth with him in the team having been second without him in the previous campaign.

Champions League qualification duly missed, he wants to leave in order to extend his goal record in that competition. He skipped the pre-season tour of Thailand and Australia, was short of match fitness on the opening day, and mustered two shots on goal against Brentford before snubbing his coach at full-time.

A great of the game, he is no longer worth the hassle at 37. Galatasaray, Saudi Arabia or whomever else should be welcome to him.

Harry Maguire

Harry Maguire remains the most expensive defender of all-time at £80m/€87m. While Leicester invested that money in a state-of-the-art training centre, Man Utd got a player who has looked largely like a fish out of water ever since.

Maguire seems to be a fine player playing in a back three with England, but with one extra man to cover for him, his defensive shortcomings are masked. Often in the trenches at Leicester, he was good at clearing his lines.

But at United he needs to play football, keep possession in the opposition half and get back in time if a ball goes in over the top on the counter-attack. He is good at none of those things.

David de Gea

David de Gea was once one of the best shot-stopping goalkeepers in the game - although Sir Alex Ferguson's decision to go for him over Manuel Neuer was still questionable during the Spaniard's peak. But the game evolved past De Gea over the last decade, and now his ability to make saves is faltering.

De Gea volunteered to face the press after the Brentford game, which deserves some credit.

"I think I cost my team three points today," he admitted, gallantly. "It was a poor performance from myself.After the first mistake and then the second, it was very tough to be playing and it was a horrible day… I should've saved the first shot and probably the result would be different."

Unfortunately for United, De Gea is no longer able to show the same leadership on the pitch. Time is up for the former Spain No.1.

Diogo Dalot

Diogo Dalot has been preferred to Aaron Wan-Bissaka at right-back since Ten Hag took charge, but the margin between better than Wan-Bissaka and good enough for Man Utd remains wide.

Dalot got forward and found Ronaldo once or twice, but more often than not he overhit his crosses against Brentford. It is technical waste United cannot afford, and there is a reason United are trying to use the Portuguese as a potential makeweight in a deal for Barcelona's Sergino Dest.

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Scott McTominay

Fred was preferred to Scott McTominay at the Gtech Community Stadium, with Christian Eriksen alongside him in midfield before the Scot replaced the Brazilian at half-time.

"McFred" don't inspire much confidence at the best of times, but at least Fred will put a foot in. Even Scotland look better without McTominay in midfield, let alone Man Utd, and the Red Devils should cash in on their academy graduate before everyone realises how limited he is.

To think cynics used to question whether Darren Fletcher was Ferguson's secret son.