Erik ten Hag may have creative solution to Manchester United right-back problem

It now seems highly likely that the next permanent manager of Manchester United will be Erik ten Hag, with the club in advanced negotiations with the Dutchman. The Manchester Evening News understands that he has been the preferred candidate for a few weeks, but it is now clear that he is the man to take the club forward over the likes of Mauricio Pochettino.

Pochettino's high release fee of around £15m along with Paris Saint-Germain's struggles this season put him out of the running for the job and made Ten Hag the outstanding candidate. The work, however, does not stop here for United and they will need to begin putting the structure in place for the Dutch manager to succeed.

Part of this will come down to transfers and United are in need of reinforcements across the board. One such player could be Ajax central defender Jurrien Timber, who Dutch journalist Mike Verweij said is one of the players that Ten Hag will be looking to bring with him to Old Trafford.

READ MORE: Ajax expecting Erik ten Hag to join Manchester United

Centre-back, though, is one of United's most reinforced positions, even if Eric Bailly and Phil Jones leave this summer, so the club spending serious money on such an area is unlikely. But what if Timber, who has played as a right-sided centre-back for the majority of his career, could be the club's answer to their full-back problem.

The Theory

In Ten Hag's Ajax system, the full-backs take up two different roles. One is tasked with playing higher up the field, acting as a more attacking element. In the Dutchman's current team this is Noussair Mazraoui, who is available for free this summer but looks likely to join Bayern Munich, as per Fabrizio Romano.

In United's current team this would be Luke Shaw,