Former influential Reading figure makes interesting claim involving new Manchester United boss Erik Ten Hag

Former Reading sporting director Brian Tevreden has revealed that he made Erik Ten Hag his number one target as manager for the Royals back in 2016, but the club wouldn’t pay £300,000 to bring him in.

The Dutch coach has just been named as the new Manchester United boss, after years of success with Ajax.

This will be Ten Hag’s first taste of English football, but his career could’ve gone a different way after Tevreden told TalkSPORT that he had identified the then Utrecht chief as the man he wanted to bring to the Royals until the compensation required meant it was a no go.

“He was my No.1 target. We had a quick conversation, the owner, ‘Tiger’ (Sumrith Thanakarnjanasuth), was on there as well, but, ultimately, I had to pay £300k but there was no budget. So, I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t do the deal.

“I had a couple of conversations with him, he was open to the opportunity, he then spoke to the owner. I knew there was a clause in his contract for £300k but the board told me there was no money. That was so painful for me!”

Jaap Stam would eventually get the Reading job, leading them to the play-off final in his first full season.

The verdict

This is one the Reading missed out on! Ten Hag has gone on to prove himself to be one of the top coaches in Europe and has just landed one of the biggest jobs in world football.

So, you can only imagine how he would’ve helped transform Reading, even though it was going to be a difficult job for whoever came in and took over.

Stam did well in that first season but the Royals have had a very tough time of things since and, like Tevreden, the fans would have wished the board had stumped up the £300,000 to bring Ten Hag in.

Thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.

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