Erik ten Hag has four players fighting for the same position at Manchester United

After spending north of £155million on right-wingers in back-to-back summer transfer windows, Manchester United should not be facing uncertainty in the position.

But as Jadon Sancho prepares to temporarily say goodbye to Old Trafford, just two-and-a-half-years after joining the club from Borussia Dortmund, and Antony becomes more and more indefensible, manager Erik ten Hag faces a right-wing headache. It was not meant to be like this.

Sancho arrived in M16 in July 2021 with the world at his feet. His first season, like United's as a collective in 2021/22, was underwhelming, but plenty of supporters stood by him, hoping that Ten Hag would get a tune out of him.

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But his hopes of becoming a regular starter on the right wing were quashed when the Dutchman decided to bring in a right-winger of his own, convincing the United hierarchy to invest £85.5m in Antony, who also joined the club from Ajax in the summer of 2022. Though it was an eye-watering fee for a player that had never stepped foot inside one of Europe's top five leagues, a lot of United supporters were prepared to back Ten Hag, insisting that he knew best.

On reflection, Ten Hag should not have been granted as much freedom as he had to convince United into depositing such an extravagant amount of money into Ajax's account. Their £85.5m investment has returned eight goals and just three assists.

Alarmingly, not a single one of those direct goal contributions has been tallied this season. Antony is without a goal since April and an assist since May. It is becoming impossible to defend him.

As a result of