Manchester United legend Gary Neville has previously praised Roberto De Zerbi for getting his Brighton side to play like Real Madrid despite working with a fraction of the resources Erik ten Hag and his predecessors have had at Old Trafford.
Neville was full of praise for the likes of De Zerbi, alongside Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham, for making such an impact tactically at their clubs, whereas Ten Hag and others like Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Jose Mourinho have all at various points struggled to really establish a philosophy or a pattern of play.
Speaking to Sky Sports, as quoted by the Manchester Evening News, Neville stated his view that De Zerbi’s success damages Ten Hag to an extent, as the Dutch tactician looks that much worse for having failed to do that at United when his rivals are able to do it at smaller clubs with less money to spend on top players.
“What really damages the likes of Erik ten Hag and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Jose Mourinho, they’ve all spent £300 million, £400m but De Zerbi at Brighton, Postecoglou at Spurs, and others like them have come in and in three to four months they’ve got them playing like Real Madrid,” Neville said.
“That’s the problem they’ve got. It’s been shown that you can come in and have an impact on players, patterns of play, style, in three to four months. We are still sat here eight years after Louis van Gaal leaves and haven’t seen a pattern of play, a combination that you see repeatedly.”
De Zerbi has been linked with the United job
Another report today from the Manchester Evening News has linked De Zerbi with the Red Devils job, so this could be an intriguing story to follow in the weeks and months ahead as Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s plans for the club come together.
A new sporting director coming in will surely be keen to helping determine whether or not Ten Hag stays or goes, as well as who could be a leading contender to replace him.
It will be interesting to see, however, if MUFC take Neville’s words above into account.