Man United could move transfer strategy away from five-man shortlist after Antony disaster

Over the last couple of years it has looked like Erik ten Hag has had free reign when it comes to dictating Manchester United's transfer strategy. Rarely did the approach deviate from players he has worked with or players attached to the Sports Entertainment Group of his agent, Kees Vos.

Ten Hag might not have held the pursestrings but he held the power, with Vos heavily involved in supplying players to the United first-team. Lisandro Martinez, Tyrell Malacia, Antony, Wout Weghorst Andre Onana, Sofyan Amrabat, Rasmus Hojlund. The connections to Ten Hag, Vos or the Eredivisie were everywhere.

Those close to the process have always insisted there is a perfectly fair explanation for this. United were revamping their recruitment department when Ten Hag arrived and the Dutchman felt he could better trust his judgement as he built a squad to challenge.

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When he did want a player, the recruitment department would create a shortlist of five options to be presented to Ten Hag and football director John Murtough. The manager was essentially free to pick his preference from that list and it regularly included the players he had associations with.

In the case of some, that was hardly surprising, and there are successes there. Ten Hag pushed for the signing of Martinez from Ajax when the recruitment department preferred to go for Villarreal's left-footed centre-back Pau Torres. But there are failures too, most notably the £86million spent on Antony, who has rarely looked like coming close to fulfilling that price tag.

Now, as Ten Hag enters his third summer window and looks to build on