Transfers, coaching, Ronaldo, Maguire and Pogba are just the tip of the iceberg for Erik ten Hag at Manchester United

Erik ten Hag is set to be appointed as the new Manchester United manager according to a string of reports, but he has plenty of work to do.

When Sir Alex Ferguson stepped down, David Moyes was appointed and while many were sceptical of his ability to match his predecessor’s achievements, few believed that a drop-off in the club’s performances would be so stark.

Perhaps yet more unexpected is that each time the current disaster was replaced by the next disaster, there were reasons for optimism. Under Louis van Gaal there was the giddiness of Angel Di Maria, Radamel Falcao and others. Jose Mourinho had Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and even Ole Gunnar Solskjaer eventually received Bruno Fernandes, Jadon Sancho and Harry Maguire. Every time, disappointment and underachievement followed.

That has apparently given Ten Hag the confidence to demand more control, including the final say on transfers when working with the club hierarchy, and a determination to overhaul the squad to feature younger players. Here are his priorities for the coming season.

There seems no obvious reason for Harry Maguire to have failed at Manchester United, but there is probably no other way to describe it at this point. £80 million of defender - an England international, no less - is perhaps the biggest weakness of the backline which is already creaking without him.

Raphael Varane has done acceptably well, and perhaps next season his assuredness will be able to lead the line rather than be dragged down by it. On the right, Aaron Wan-Bissaka has regressed and dulled his best qualities rather than improved his weakness. Diogo Dalot and Alex Telles are underwhelming reserves, and Luke Shaw seems to struggle tactically. Mourinho might have been cruel as he managed him but he was not necessarily wrong. Others such as Phil Jones, Victor Lindelof and Eric Bailly have not proven themselves at Old Trafford, but they have proven themselves as not good enough.

Pogba would be a fool to stay at United. Ten Hag needs a miracle, and speedy one, in order to both keep his job for longer than a couple of years and to also seriously challenge for titles. This summer he will probably jump ship to either Real Madrid or Paris Saint-Germain and enjoy the quality around him at the former, and the easy life at the latter.

But the problems in midfield are not limited to Pogba. Scott McTominay and Fred will almost certainly stay, but they would not get into any other team with the global reputation of United. Ten Hag needs at least one, and probably three new midfielders just to get the squad to the necessary level in the middle of the pitch.

The 37-year-old Portuguese striker hit a hat-trick at the weekend, the 30th since he turned 30. He is United’s top goalscorer and if he remained at the club for next season he would probably be the same then, too. However it’s reasonable to ask if his wages might support a reshaping of the squad that better serves the team, for all his goalscoring exploits.

Given his age and diminishing powers, he does not fit the requirements of a hard-working front line, as he understandably focuses his efforts on the highest individual reward - scoring. Most of the time that makes sense of the team, too, but Ten Hag seems keen to revamp the approach of the team. Negotiating the exit of the Portuguese in a cost- and time-effective manner, while losing the example he sets on the training ground, is a tall ask.

With no return in sight for Mason Greenwood, and Marcus Rashford’s troubles, this is another area where reinforcements and coaching are needed.

Both coaching and transfers are made more difficult by the sheer scale of changes that are both needed and that will be enforced this summer. Anthony Martial wants to leave, but there are more who will be on their way. Of players not already mentioned, Nemanja Matic, Jesse Lingard, Juan Mata, Dean Henderson, Lee Grant, Edinson Cavani and perhaps more could be on their way out of the club. Theoretically, 10 players could be needed, while operating both on a budget and against United’s historical transfer market incompetence. That alone is a huge obstacle, but Ten Hag must pull that off while overhauling the team’s tactical approach fundamentally.