Manchester United and Richard Arnold cannot break their promise to Erik ten Hag this summer

Manchester United has been a graveyard for managers for nearly a decade and Erik ten Hag will be aware of that.

Ten Hag will become United's fifth permanent manager since Sir Alex Ferguson retired. David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer all thought they could be the manager to restore the club to its former glory but none of them managed it.

"Glory, glory Man United," has been sparingly played through the Old Trafford PA system across that period. United's U18s winning the FA Youth Cup on Wednesday night was the first time a trophy had been lifted on the red side of Manchester for nine years. The club has been starved of success and the youngsters' Youth Cup triumph was a much needed positive story after a dark season.

ALSO READ: Erik ten Hag breaks silence on his Manchester United manager interview with exciting promise.

Ten Hag would have been following that dark season from his home in Amsterdam. The Dutchman has enjoyed plenty of success in the Netherlands but taking the reins at United during this transitional period will be the biggest challenge of his career.

Although the size of the task ahead won't be wasted on Ten Hag, the reality is that an opportunity to manage Manchester United is just too good for him to reject. Ten Hag has managed Go Ahead Eagles, Bayern Munich II, Utrecht and Ajax. That's not the ordinary path to managing at Old Trafford. United will be desperately hoping Ten Hag is far from an ordinary manager.

However, Ten Hag wasn't going to agree to manage United without certain conditions being agreed upon. United's talks with the Dutchman were believed to have hit a small stumbling block last month and it was no surprise to see him linked with other jobs.

Those seemed