Zinedine Zidane Becomes The Main Target To Replace Erik Ten Hag At Manchester United

Zinedin Zidane, the former Real Madrid coach who was the target of Manchester United. (Instagram @zidane)

JAKARTA - Manchester United plans to fire Manager Erik ten Hag at the end of this season. Despite circulating a number of names, Sir Jim Radcliffe, United's new minority shareholder, is targeting to bring Zinedine Zidane to deal with the Red Devils.

Ten Hag's future at MU is still uncertain. The opportunity to be fired is indeed greater than being maintained because he failed to achieve the best performance.

Fulham's 1-2 defeat at Old Trafford is a strong signal if the former Ajax Amsterdam coach will be dismissed.

Ten Hag had failed when the competition had not ended. MU, who returned to compete in the 2023/2024 Champions League, was immediately eliminated in the group stage.

In fact, the Red Devils occupy the lowest position so they fail to qualify for the Europa League 2023/2024.

The status as the defending champion in the Carabao Cup cannot be continued. Meanwhile in the Premier League, Ten Hag hopes to bring MU to the top four.

However, the target is considered unrealistic because MU is currently still ranked sixth and has eight points adrift of Aston Villa who is in fourth position.

If you want to enter the Champions League zone, MU must get rid of Villa and Tottenham Hotspur who are more consistent in performance than Casemiro and colleagues.

In addition, players purchased by Ten Hag at high prices are sluggisher. Starting from Casemiro, Raphael Varane, to Antony. In fact, Rasmus Hojlund almost failed before showing his actions as MU's mainstay goal-getter.

Ratcliffe's arrival as the new minority shareholder at least made Ten Hag even more threatened. Moreover, the richest man in England lacks support for Ten Hag.

Even though he only owns 27.7% of shares, Ratcliffe has the trust of the Glazer family as the majority shareholder to fix the team.

That trust includes overhauling squads, replacing managers, and making changes to managerial ranks.

He recruited Omar Berrada as CEO of the club and appointed Dan Ashworth as Director of Sports. Ashworth himself has already proposed a number of names, namely Julen Lopetegui, Graham Potter, and Ruben Amorim to be the next manager.

In addition, Thomas Tuchel, who will withdraw from Bayer Munich at the end of this season, expressed his desire to handle MU. He has also been contacted.

However, there is one name that Jean-Ministry Blanc, led by Ineos, will hold the position of Director of MU. Blanc himself is CEO of Ineos, a company owned by Radcliffe.

Blanc is not an arbitrary figure. This French man had served as Director of Paris Saint-Germain and former CEO of Juventus. As a French, he proposed Zinedine Zidane as a candidate for Manchester United Manager. The proposal was immediately approved by Radcliffe.

Zidane himself is still unemployed since leaving Real Madrid in 2021. In his career as a coach, the French national team legend handled only one club, Madrid.

However, Zidane brought Los Merengues to score a hat trick for the Champions League champions. He is recorded in history as the only coach who can bring the club three times to win the Si Kuping Lebar trophy in a row.

The former Cannes, Bordeaux, Juventus, and Madrid also won La Liga twice and won the UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup twice each.

Ratcliffe believes Zidane could revolutionize MU. However, Zidane is also a target for Bayern Munich and Juventus. Even though he has not handled the club for the past three years, Zidane has confirmed that he will return.

Especially after the desire to coach the French national team has not yet been completed. The French Football Federation (FFF) chose to keep its colleague, Didier Deschamps, even though it failed in the 2022 Duia Cup.