legend has warned incoming new manager Erik ten Hag that he must sort out the club’s approach to recruitment and adjust the characteristics he looks for in new signings.
The boss has reportedly to take over at Old Trafford – with the option for a fourth year – though will not be officially announced until after the Dutch Cup final, with United keen to avoid disrupting Ajax’s season.
Ferdinand is excited to see what Ten Hag can do, though feels recruitment will be absolutely crucial to his success and has encouraged the Dutchman to look for players capable of handling the pressure at United – something he may not have been used to at Ajax.
Reacting to reports that Ten Hag has agreed to join United, Ferdinand said on his : ‘He needs time to build. I’m really interested to see who he goes to in terms of recruitment. What’s it looking like behind the scenes?
‘I know the guys that are there at the moment are really working diligently to get something in place, a structure that enables the manager – whoever it is – to come in and have a real good go at getting the right talent.
‘And it’s about as well that conversation with Ten Hag and the people that are running the club: “How is the recruitment done? What players are coming in? This is my style of player.”
‘The key conversation is, who’s that being driven by: the manager who’s coming in or the recruitment staff who are saying: “This is the Man United player coming in, this is the Man United DNA, this is what we want”?
‘Those are the conversations that I’m sure are happening and I’m sure in time when it all unfolds we’ll start to get a better understanding, because the recruitment has not been good enough. I think if people are honest at the football club they will say the recruitment has not been good enough for a long time.
‘I’m not talking just the last couple of windows, I’m talking eight to 10 years since Sir Alex Ferguson left, it hasn’t been good enough. So that needs to improve drastically, get the right players in.
‘Not necessarily world superstars, but get the right characters and personalities to come in and help drive the culture that is going to allow us to challenge for a sustainable amount of time – not just a here today, gone tomorrow concept. That’s vitally important.
‘The next window that’s coming, if it’s Ten Hag, I want to see what type of player he is going to be bringing in because it’s very different to be recruiting a player for Ajax than it is for someone like Man United. The expectations, the pressure, have they got the right character, the right minerals to handle the demands at Man United.
‘The demands at Man United are very different to the demands at Ajax – no disrespect to Ajax, who have big demands in their country, but this is on a worldwide scale now, very different. You make a mistake at Man United and it’s worldwide news across different media platforms all over the place. With all due respect, it’s very different to Ajax.’
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