Since Erik ten Hag took over at Man United, the Dutchman has had a penchant for re-signing players whom he’d worked with previously at Ajax.
Andre Onana and Antony swapped the Amsterdam ArenA for Old Trafford, the former via the San Siro, and it’s fair to say that, at this stage, neither of those transfers could be considered a success.
Donny van de Beek was signed by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and has already left the club on loan despite playing under ten Hag at Ajax, Antony is woefully out of form and Onana doesn’t really inspire confidence between the posts.
Lisandro Martinez could be said to be the only success as he too was acquired from the Dutch club, though he has been out of action for long periods because of injury concerns.
Despite this, ten Hag is looking to acquire another of his old boys in similarly injury-prone Matthijs de Ligt, according to the Daily Mirror (h/t Sky Sports).
The towering 24-year-old centre-back was made captain of Ajax by ten Hag when he was just 19 years of age, and could be a real presence at the heart of the United back-line.
However, since leaving Amsterdam, he hasn’t really progressed at either Juventus or Bayern Munich, so it would be another risk from a manager who doesn’t really have any get out of jail free cards left.