Erik ten Hag's Man Utd predecessors have further complicated his first transfer window

Erik ten Hag has enough problems to deal with at Manchester United without the men who came before him adding to his misery.

As the new manager at Old Trafford, the Dutchman's first major task was orchestrating a successful summer transfer window alongside newly-appointed chief executive Richard Arnold, football director John Murtough and the club's new-look recruitment team. While you can do your best to work around the clock, answer your phone in the middle of the night, and spend hours on planes trains and automobiles, sometimes all it takes to make or break a transfer are some choice words from important people.

Unfortunately for Ten Hag - who's at least been able to bring in three new faces for a total of £70million - those are the people who once stood in his shoes, roaming around the Old Trafford technical area. In the Red Devils' pursuit of two particular targets, Louis van Gaal and Ralf Rangnick have each put a spanner in the works and helped kill any chance of a deal being done this summer.

All the way back in mid-June - before Ten Hag had held a single training pre-season session - United chiefs were busy working on signings, with Ajax defender Jurrien Timber identified as one of his priorities. The 21-year-old Netherlands international was one of the multiple young players who Ten Hag nurtured during his time in charge of the Dutch giants, who reportedly named their price tag at £36m.

With Ten Hag hoping to take Timber with him to Manchester, the ever-outspoken Van Gaal - who now manages the Netherlands in his first job since being sacked by the Red Devils in May 2016 - warned the centre-back not to join his former employers ahead of the World Cup later this year.

"I think a player with his