Are Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United really in crisis? No, not yet

‘Twas the night before the 2022-23 Premier League, and Manchester United had already been plunged into a fresh crisis, according to reports. Cristiano Ronaldo and the new gaffer Erik ten Hag are said to be on collision course after the forward’s decision to nick off early from last Sunday’s friendly draw against Rayo Vallecano. As pre-season statements of intent go, this is apparently akin to the wantaway forward clearing his locker and booking a one-way flight to Spain (or Italy). The insatiable press pack are limbering up for the new top-flight season by frothing at this clash of the titans, and making whispered references to Ten Hag’s reign being in trouble.

At which point, a reminder: the Premier League campaign is scheduled to end on 28 May 2023. Can any of us seriously hope to stomach another 10 months of this nonsense? Hopefully not: Ronaldo simply needs to accept a £350,000-per-week wage reduction to sign for Nottingham Forest, which seems to be all the rage this summer. Anyway, is the bronzed Portuguese Adonis even Ten Hag’s biggest problem? The Fiver would say the continuing failure to successfully tempt Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong to Old Trafford is potentially more serious, evoking as it does memories of David Moyes’s fruitless quest to sign Cesc Fàbregas in 2013, early in his ill-fated reign.

Ah … 2012-13. That was the last year that mighty United won the Premier League, when Alex Ferguson brought the curtain down on his 26-year tenure with one last title. Since then Moyes, Ryan Giggs, Louis van Gaal, José Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, Michael Carrick and Ralf Rangnick have all been at the wheel. It’s almost as if the United job has become a poisoned chalice. Along with Ronaldo-gate, Ten Hag’s in-tray