Erik ten Hag claims Paris Saint-Germain target Marcus Rashford remains a big part of his plans at Manchester United.
French club PSG are eyeing up Rashford and would like to add the United striker to their star-studded attacking line-up. Rashford is understood to be happy at Old Trafford and and Ten Hag says he is adamant he does not want him to leave the club.
“He’s really important,” Ten Hag said on Friday. “You have seen from the first day I’m here that I’m really happy with him. I don’t want to lose him, he’s definitely in our plans at Manchester United.”
Ten Hag was more circumspect when asked if the wantaway Cristiano Ronaldo would start against Brentford n Saturday. Ronaldo came on in Saturday’s opening day defeat to Brighton and is still hankering after a move away from Old Trafford. Ten Hag says he has trained well this week, but refused to say if he would start.
“So he had a good training week,” said the Dutchman. “I thought he played a little bit longer than half an hour, so he’s had two half games and for the starting XI we will see tomorrow. It is my decision and I will keep it to myself.”
Ten Hag revealed that Anthony Martial and Victor Lindelof would miss out through injury for game against the Bees. “Martial will not be available and Victor Lindelof as well, not for this weekend,” he said.
Ten Hag was also defiant after a bruising week for United in the transfer market when they were forced to abandon on their interest in Marco Arnautovic because of the fans’ anger. They have still to finalise Adrien Rabiot’s £15million switch from Juventus and their bid for Ten Hag’s top target Frenkie de Jong remains stuck with Chelsea also vying for the Dutch star.
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Ten Hag refused to discuss individual targets and claims he and the board were unified in their transfer dealings. “I’m happy,” he said. “I think we’re co-operating really well. I cannot speak about any players, I cannot talk about players who are under contract at other clubs.”
United have also had a turbulent week because their disappointing loss to Brighton blew away the optimism that had been generated by their positive pre-season. The former Ajax boss accepts United will always be scrutinised because of their size and history and says everyone at the club must handle this.
“I know there is always pressure,” he said. “I have the experience, I know how it is. I know we have to win every game. I know the fans and I know everyone expects Manchester United to win every game. We have to deal with that and all I can do is prepare the team as well as I can this weekend.
“I did after the Brighton game what I always go, I analysed the game, what went well, what went wrong, where we can improve, how we can train, tell the players and show them how to improve to get solutions.
"We learned a lot, but I think it’s normal when you start the season. That’s part of the game. Football is a game of mistakes. We know we have to improve in many things, that is clear.”
