Man Utd: Ten Hag ‘seriously questioned’ for re-signing former player over £43m Tottenham star
Paul Merson thinks Manchester United should have signed Micky van de Ven during the summer before he was snapped up by Tottenham Hotspur.
Van de Ven was also heavily linked with Liverpool during the recent summer transfer window but Tottenham ended up signing him for around £43m.
The Netherlands international has hit the ground running in the Premier League as he has formed a great partnership with World Cup winner Cristian Romero.
Man Utd meanwhile are enduring a woeful season and they are being marred by their issues at centre-back.
The Red Devils – who are fourth in the 2023 Premier League net spend table – re-signed Jonny Evans during the summer after he departed Leicester City and the 35-year-old has made six appearances during the early months of this season.
Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane have been out of action so Erik ten Hag has been forced to select Evans and Maguire as Man Utd have struggled.
Merson is baffled that Man Utd did not sign Van de Ven and he would be asking “serious questions” of Ten Hag if he was their owner.
“I would be asking questions. If I owned the club. I would be sitting there now and I would be going to you as the manager ‘Why didn’t we get the lad at Tottenham?” Merson said on Sky Sports.
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“He’s Dutch. You are Dutch. You know the league. You know the players. Why is he at Tottenham and he isn’t here? And we haven’t got a centre-half’.
“No disrespect to Evans. But you are playing a 30-odd-year-old next to Maguire. Varane can’t get fit. Lindelof, I don’t think is a real centre-half, if I am being totally honest. I wouldn’t mind him marking.
“Then you are looking at this player (Van de ven), who is one of the best centre-halves in the league, at the moment. And he isn’t playing for Man United. He wasn’t £80-90 million. Serious questions.”
Man Utd legend Rio Ferdinand recently lauded Van de Ven, who has already proven that he is “the real deal”.
“Romero and Micky van de Ven are arguably the best pairing at the moment in central defence in the Premier League on form. They’ve been immense,” Ferdinand said.
“This Micky van de Ven, bro, he is the real deal. He’s the real deal. I saw his debut the other day for Holland. I’ve seen him right up close twice this season.”
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