Manchester United board set transfer budget for Erik ten Hag

Erik ten Hag has been given just £120million to spend this summer, despite the Dutchman telling Manchester United’s board that he will need as many as six new players.

Work is already underway between Ten Hag and United’s recruitment team to sign players, with the Dutchman targeting a centre-back, a right-back, a central midfielder and a striker.

Ten Hag feels United’s spine needs strengthening but the squad will already be depleted on his arrival as Juan Mata, Paul Pogba, Edinson Cavani, Nemanja Matic and Jesse Lingard are all set to leave the club.

Just replacing those outgoings will take significant investment and given the space on the wage bill that those departures will create, it was felt Ten Hag will be given around £200m to spend.

However, the Times say that Ten Hag has been give a modest £120m and he’ll have to top up his transfer budget by sanctioning further sales.

The likes of Phil Jones, Eric Bailly, Anthony Martial, Dean Henderson and Aaron Wan-Bissaka are all available for transfer.

Frenkie de Jong, the Barcelona midfielder, is a priority target for Ten Hag but the Catalans want around £75m for the Dutchman – which would be over half of his summer budget.

As well as De Jong, Ten Hag is targeting Jurrien Timber, the Ajax centre-back.

The 20-year-old is valued at around £50m by the Dutch giants but Ten Hag feels defence is an area of priority.

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