'Idiotic' Man Utd boss Ten Hag signed EVERY Ajax player except Gravenberch

When Ryan Gravenberch was leaving Ajax back in 2022, he TURNED DOWN the opportunity to link up with his old manager Erik ten Hag at Manchester United. 

“Manchester United is a very big and beautiful club. But I already had such a good feeling at Bayern Munich and I had given my word," he told De Telegraaf at the time.

It might well be the best decision he’s ever made. 

Read more: 'Snake man' Gravenberch saves Liverpool £40m

Gravenberch’s career suffered at Bayern and his start to life at Liverpool was no fairy tale either. It's incredible to think now but he was even a target for Galatasaray in the Turkish Super Lig over the summer. 

But since the appointment of Arne Slot as new head coach, Gravenberch's rise has been stratospheric. 

Previously described as better than Jude Bellingham 'in every way’ by Rafael van der Vaart, Gravenberch has been hoovering up the accolades during the 2024/25 season. 

Gravenberch earns comparisons to the GREATS

He’s been named player of the match on multiple occasions and has been elected as Liverpool’s September player of the month. 

It would be no exaggeration to say he’s the Premier League’s best midfielder on current form, earning comparisons from Jamie Carragher to an all-time great in Patrick Vieira. 

However, it is Sergio Busquets at his peak who Gravenberch most resembles currently, a unique mix of skill, elusiveness, energy and passing helping Liverpool shore up a midfield that looked so lax in the latter part of Jurgen Klopp’s reign. 

Gravenberch has taken his chance, vanquishing all talk about Martin Zubimendi in the process, with the Dutch international looking like a bonafide revelation under his compatriot. 

Slot doing things the old-fashioned way

It is a testament to Gravenberch that he’s grabbed his opportunity with both hands but it also speaks volumes about Slot’s abilities as a coach. 

Slot revealed in his opening weeks that he had been charged with improving the players currently on the books while all around him fans and media alike were crying foul at the lack of incoming transfer business. 

It’s not only Gravenberch but also Dominik Szoboszlai, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ibrahima Konate and Luis Diaz who have taken huge forward strides under the former Feyenoord coach. 

Slot has got on with things the old-fashioned way, through diligent work on the grass and intense one-on-one feedback sessions. 

The reward? Liverpool are top of the Premier League, Slot has undergone a transformative and record-breaking start as Liverpool head coach while his players are earning individual praise. 

'Idiotic' Ten Hag's midfield nightmare

Contrast that to what’s happening at Old Trafford. 

It’s genuinely hard to think of one player who has improved under the guidance of Ten Hag. Had Gravenberch followed up a poor spell at Bayern with a transfer to Man Utd, it would probably have meant curtains for his top-level career. 

Consider the fate of the much-maligned Man Utd midfield. No matter the personnel in there, Ten Hag simply cannot get it right. He has lavished HUGE transfer fees on Casemiro, Mason Mount and Manuel Ugarte. 

"I saw a new player walking around at Manchester United, Ugarte, for €50million,” Ballon d’Or winner Marco van Basten told Ziggo Sport last weekend. 

“How is this guy walking around there? It's idiotic how much [Ten Hag] has decided to invest in players who are not even good."

Man Utd throwing good money after bad

Casemiro alone cost about as much as Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister and easily out-earns the duo combined. 

More money has been spent on massive wages for the likes of Christian Eriksen and Sofyan Amrabat. 

But United have gone backwards, leaking goals, failing to create sufficient chances and surrendering midfield in practically every game they play. 

“He’s got to find goals at the top of the pitch, he’s got to find a defensive partnership and he’s got to find a partnership in midfield,” Man Utd Champions League winner Owen Hargreaves told TNT Sports on Thursday.

“But he’s been there quite a while now, Erik, and a lot of that should have been sorted. I think there will be a lot of questions after the game because that’s not the level they need to be consistent.”

Even their once reliable captain Bruno Fernandes has undergone several backward steps, being sent off in consecutive matches and offering practically nothing. 

Could the young man have reasonably thrived in that atmosphere?

Ten Hag signs every Ajax player but the good one

Ten Hag seems to have signed every Ajax player he managed during his time in Amsterdam. He was a coach of Andre Onana, Noussair Mazraoui, Lisandro Martinez, Matthijs de Ligt and Antony for the Dutch giants while Eriksen previously starred in the Johan Cruyff Arena. 

The irony is that the one Ajax player he went in for and didn’t get is Ryan Gravenberch - the only one of those former Ten Hag players currently performing anywhere close to the top level. 

He demonstrated that in person when Liverpool swatted aside United at Old Trafford last month. 

What a slap in the face that must have been for Ten Hag, as he watched his shambolic unit take him one step closer to the sack. 

In the other dugout was Arne Slot, a genuinely transformative coach who has resurrected Gravenberch’s career and developed for Liverpool a world-class midfielder into the bargain.