David de Gea comments have exposed Manchester United dressing room issues Erik ten Hag must fix

It says a lot about the state of the modern Manchester United that a manager who has Ajax at the top of his CV is dictating the conditions he needs to accept the vacancy at Old Trafford, but you can hardly blame Erik ten Hag for wanting assurances over what he's getting himself into.

The biggest club in the world or the most chaotic soap opera in football? United won't stop trumpeting their cause to be the former, but record numbers of Tik-Tok engagements and noodle partners aren't going to make a new banner in the Stretford End.

On the pitch, this club has become a laughing stock. Standards are as low as they've been in decades and any United fans brave enough to tune in to events at the Etihad yesterday would have barely recognised the sport being played by Manchester City and Liverpool.

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The prospect of United even coming close to winning the league while Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp are still in the north west feels about as likely as this team playing well between now and the end of the season, but if Ten Hag decides this task is for him he needs to steer the club into a position to capitalise on the prospect of City and Liverpool finding life without their totemic managers isn't quite as glorious.

The idea there might be a quick fix to United's woes has been well and truly exposed over the previous five months. When Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was sacked it felt like a sharp tactician and an astute coach could engineer some rapid improvement in a talented squad, but Ralf Rangnick's interim role has been disastrous.

The German will probably leave Old Trafford cursing these players, just as some of his predecessors have. There's