Thomas Tuchel’s ‘real reason’ for rejecting summer Man Utd move as talks reignited

Manchester United mulled a deal for Thomas Tuchel over the summer but remained faith with Erik ten Hag, only to have the manager oversee a shaky start to the season.

Thomas Tuchel reportedly rejected down a summer move to Manchester United after failing to reach an agreement with the club’s management on transfer strategy.

Former Bayern Munich manager Tuchel met with co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe this summer as the United co-owner looked into prospective replacements for Erik ten Hag. Ten Hag stayed in his position and was given a new contract in early July.

Just three months later, the Premier League club is thought to be pondering a new approach for Tuchel. Ten Hag’s club has only eight points from seven Premier League games, placing them 14th in the rankings, and Tuchel is apparently being set up to replace the Dutchman.

Tuchel is still out of job after leaving Bayern at the end of the season. United are said to have other possibilities under consideration, but they are considered to be employed elsewhere, and any approach may be more problematic than going for Tuchel.

Bild reported in September that Tuchel was ‘very close’ to taking over at United. However, conflicts over the club’s proposed transfer structure are alleged to have derailed the deal, as are fears about high-level interference.

Ten Hag personally verified Tuchel’s negotiations with the club. “Manchester United have told me that they spoke with Tuchel, but they eventually came to the conclusion that they already have the best manager,” he told NOS while attending Euro 2024.

Ten Hag received support in the transfer market throughout the summer, with over £200 million spent on Joshua Zirkzee, Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui, Manuel Ugarte, and teenager Sekou Kone. However, Yoro was injured during preseason, and the other new additions have had mixed results.”I don’t want to answer that question…” Ratcliffe told the BBC on Thursday that he believed in Ten Hag. “I like Erik.” I believe he is an excellent coach, but at the end of the day, it is up to Manchester United’s management team to determine how to effectively run the squad in a variety of ways.

“But the team that is running Manchester United has only been together since June or July.” [CEO] Omar [Berrada] and [Sporting Director] Dan Ashworth didn’t show there in January, February, March, or April; they arrived in July.

“They have only been there…”You can count it in weeks nearly; they haven’t been there long, so they need to take stock and make some smart judgments. Our goal is pretty clear: we want to get Manchester United back to where it should be, and it isn’t there yet.Tuchel’s lone Premier League management experience was at Chelsea, when he took over midway through the 2020-21 season. The Blues won the Champions League in his first season and challenged for the crown in his second, but they finished third after scoring only 15 points in their final ten games.

He was fired by the Blues barely one month into the 2022-23 season, although he finished the season as a Bundesliga champion with Bayern. However, the Bavarian side was unable to replicate their success last season, and Tuchel’s departure was announced before the season’s last game.

Former United captain Gary Neville said that if the Villa game ended in loss, the club’s board would act fast to replace Ten Hag, but a change might be on the way anyway. “I think we all know that obviously clubs do reassess during international breaks, and I think what’s happened in the last week – anyone who was in Old Trafford last week [for the defeat at home to Tottenham], I don’t think you even need to be in the stadium to recognise that it felt like a monumental day,” said the Manchester United forward.