Revealed: Why Man Utd decided against sacking Erik ten Hag despite talking to ‘half a dozen other managers'

There was speculation regarding the Dutch manager's future at Old Trafford even after winning the FA Cup title last month following an impressive win over Manchester City. New co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his INEOS group subsequently conducted an end-of-the-season review to judge the performance of Ten Hag and on Tuesday, it was reported that the club have decided to retain the 54-year-old's services.

According to The Telegraph, the owners did consider the names of "half a dozen" top managers including Mauricio Pochettino, Thomas Frank, Kieran McKenna, Roberto De Zerbi and Gareth Southgate, however, the club did not consider any of the candidates as an exceptional alternative to the former Ajax coach which prompted them to continue with him.

The club officials also felt that changing the manager without appointing the perfect alternative could further negatively impact the team ahead of the 2024/25 season when the club plans to turn things around by rebuilding their squad.

Ten Hag will be back in action with his team at the end of July as the English giants are all set to travel to the US for pre-season.