Christian Eriksen has just confirmed why Manchester United wanted to sign Frenkie de Jong

The task of solving Manchester United's midfield woes was a big enough challenge in itself for Erik ten Hag when he walked through the Old Trafford doors for the first time back in May.

For all of United's troubles and extensive list of failures last season, the majority of them were pinned on their lack of bite and world-class quality in the engine room. Supporters had become sick and tired of seeing Scott McTominay and Fred working in tandem at the base of the midfield, all while Fabinho and Rodri were bossing proceedings for Liverpool and Manchester City, respectively, much higher up the Premier League ladder.

United's need to recruit a world-class defensive-midfielder was blindingly obvious to everyone, even to those who did not watch the Reds religiously last season. They were outclassed and overrun in midfield far too often, being made mincemeat of by midfielders that would not even creep into the thoughts of United recruitment team.

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United's midfield overhaul began as soon as last season reached its conclusion; Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic, Juan Mata Jesse Lingard all departed upon the expiry of their contracts, freeing up space for new faces to come in. But before the aforementioned quartet had even said their goodbyes and cleared out their Carrington lockers, Ten Hag had already identified his dream midfield signing in the form of Frenkie de Jong.

Ten Hag had overseen De Jong's development at Ajax before he joined Barcelona in July 2019, meaning he knew every nugget of detail about what his fellow countryman would have brought to Old Trafford. As every United supporter knows, and perhaps now wishes to forget, the De Jong saga went on for almost the whole