Erik ten Hag’s worst Man Utd signing decided as Sir Jim Ratcliffe faces £600m problem

THE BIG DEBATE: Erik ten Hag’s tenure at Manchester United has seen the club spend over £600 million on new acquisitions, and with his future in doubt, their transfer business is being lambasted.

If Manchester United fires Erik ten Hag this week, it will be some time before they can offload any of the £617 million worth of talent acquired in during his disastrous tenure.

Of all the charges levied at Ten Hag since his arrival in May 2022 – indistinguishable style of play, commitment to out-of-form players, and an alleged lack of personality – recruiting has perhaps received the most criticism. Ten Hag picked a bench worth £436 million for Sunday’s dismal 0-0 draw at Aston Villa, which might be his final game as manager.

United great Paul Scholes was perplexed by the choice to turn down Lisandro Martinez, Matthijs de Ligt, and Manuel Ugarte, and went on a rant criticizing the Red Devils’ recruitment approach and Ten Hag’s acquisitions. “They’re relying more on hope than actual proven quality… It’s ridiculous,” Scholes said with irritation.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s appointment as co-owner earlier this year was anticipated to signal a change in fortunes in the transfer market, with sports director Dan Ashworth slated to bring his elite-level experience to Old Trafford. But 11 games into the new season, United has only won three, prompting the same old doubts.

With such expensive decisions in mind, we asked the Mirror Football staff to rank Ten Hag’s worst signings.

Andy Dunn

If you want a picture of everything that has gone wrong with Manchester United’s recruitment program – and Manchester United in general – over the last decade or so, look back to April of this year, when Antony scored his single Premier League goal in the previous 18 months.

He tucked a ball into the front of his shirt, grabbed a Sonic the Hedgehog toy, and rejoiced in front of a ‘personal photographer’. Honestly. Oh, and the goal came against the great Burnley.

You could not have made this up. Many of United’s recent additions are unaware of the responsibility and expectations that come with playing for such a famous club. Antony faces heavy competition at Old Trafford for the worst piece of business, but at £82 million and a £200,000-a-week deal that runs until 2026, the Brazilian remains an embodiment of everything that has gone wrong at the club.

David McDonnell

Antony is without a doubt Erik ten Hag’s worst signing for United, and at £86 million, he is also on track to become the most expensive failure in Premier League history.

To be fair to Ten Hag, he is not entirely to blame for United spending much too much for a winger who will never play in the first team, but he is the club’s second most expensive acquisition in history, behind only Paul Pogba, another dud who cost £89 million.

Ten Hag selected Antony as a player he wanted to sign from his previous club Ajax at the start of the summer in 2022, and he was available for roughly £35 million. However, United delayed making a decision, and when they returned to Ajax late in the window, the Dutch club had previously sold a number of players, including Lisandro Martinez to United, and did not require the money from Antony’s sale, allowing them to demand anything they wanted for him.

United bowed in and finally spent more than double what they might have paid for the Brazilian, who has only 12 goals in 86 games. He has yet to start a Premier League game for United this season, and even Ten Hag, who has stuck by his signing through tough times, appears to have lost trust in the 24-year-old.

Mike Walters

Unfortunately, the list of competitors for Ten Hag’s worst signing at Old Trafford is lengthy and costly.

For years, recruitment has been United’s weakest suit, dating back to Marouane Fellaini – a genuine dedication but never a match for United’s traditions of free-flowing football – and Bastian Schweinsteiger, a fantastic player in his heyday who had reached the pinnacle long before he put on the shirt.

Ten Hag’s major criterion for purchasing players appear to have been (a) players he had worked with at Ajax or (b) Dutchmen… and £600 million later, United are further away from competing for the championship than they have been since Sir Alex Ferguson’s farewell success in 2013.

Worst signing? He began well enough with a goal to end Arsenal’s 100-percent record two years ago, but at £86 million, Antony has been value for money on par with Del Boy’s shipment of executive mobile phones on Only Fools and Horses: top of the line model at face value, but not really up to spec.

For the same money, you could have purchased Gareth Bale 11 years ago. Bale won five Champions League trophies with Real Madrid; Antony, regrettably, has promised more than he has delivered.

David Anderson

I don’t think there’s any argument about who Erik ten Hag’s worst signing has been, and Antony is without a doubt. Antony, who cost Manchester United £86 million, has proven to be a huge waste of money. He has only 12 goals in 86 games, and his one start this season has been against League One Barnsley in the Carabao Cup, where he scored.

In total, he has made seven starts in 2024, and Ten Hag, who had him at Ajax, has lost patience with the Brazilian. He has engaged a photographer to record his greatest moments for United, and the photographer has been quite idle this year.

Antony has been an embarrassment when United needed goal scorers to relieve Rasmus Hojlund’s workload. Marcus Rashford has slipped in and out, while Joshua Zirkzee requires time. Bruno Fernandes has stepped up, but United really needed Antony to deliver on his price tag. In many respects, the South American represents all that was wrong during the Ten Hag period.Matt Maltby

The obvious choice is Antony, but you could build a case for any signing during the Ten Hag era.

Have any of them really been that good? Andre Onana has rebounded from a slow start to become one of United’s leaders on the field, and reintroducing Jonny Evans was a masterstroke.

And what about the rest? Lisandro Martinez and Christian Eriksen have enjoyed brief runs of strong form. However, they are all erratic, with Mason Mount standing out as the worst.

He joined for £60 million on a five-year contract and inherited the historic No.7 jersey. I cannot recall a single excellent game he has had. You may blame unlucky injuries, but when he has played, he appears out of place, unfit, and out of ideas.

It feels like a lifetime ago that he was pulling the strings in Chelsea’s midfield, a form that eventually earned him a place in England’s starting lineup under Gareth Southgate. It’s hard to see how he’ll ever return to the national team setup. He’s only 25 years old, so he has lots of time to regain his form. However, it is doubtful that this will occur at United.Tom Victor

There aren’t many Erik ten Hag signings who can claim to have done justice at Manchester United, but Antony is by far the worst.

United’s manager has complained about a lack of balance in his team, most notably his inability to buy a striker in January, but that is his fault. More particular, he spent a lot of money on positions where the club was already well-stocked, without enhancing the first team.

Since Ten Hag took charge, Antony has scored less Premier League goals for the club than Jadon Sancho. Sancho has been loaned out twice in that time, and his last league game for his parent club was in August 2023.

That would be bad enough for a player brought in for between £20 and £30 million, but Antony cost United roughly £86 million, making him the second most expensive signing in club history. No player selects his transfer fee, and Antony cannot accept full responsibility. This is a failure on the part of both the player and the manager, and if Ten Hag does not make it through the international break, he will be rightfully criticised.Nathan Ridley

Antony is without a doubt the worst transfer decision Manchester United has made since Erik ten Hag came control. Nothing illustrated up the Red Devils’ former hierarchy’s incompetence like refusing to pay Ajax’s exorbitant asking price until Ten Hag lost his first two games and panic ensued.

But another agreement sticks out to me as a big miscalculation, which Ten Hag will really pay for. United’s INEOS additions appeared to be less Ten Hag-oriented, but Andre Onana was undoubtedly so in 2023. Although £47 million appears to be a little sum in comparison to previous huge investments, this was expected to be the signing that would convert United into Ajax 2.0.

Despite being handed a new contract, club veteran David de Gea was mercilessly fired – a move that apparently offended a number of senior players in the dressing room – and Onana got off to a bad start. The 28-year-old has recovered well and is a reliable shot-stopper, but United can’t play out of the back and he’s far too easy to beat.

I’m not saying that letting De Gea leave when his contract ended was the bad option, or that Cameroon’s No.1 (for the time being) won’t succeed, but Onana hasn’t proven to be the transformational goalkeeper signing that Ten Hag was looking for, and time is running out. Had Ten Hag picked a stronger goalkeeper, United may have averted the decline that began last season.Sam Meade

Antony is the move that will define the Erik ten Hag period, and not in a positive sense. Unlike Sir Alex Ferguson’s purchase of Eric Cantona, which was practically the spark for their domination, this move exemplifies the mistaken and unsatisfying sentiment that has persisted throughout the Dutchman’s tenure.

Ten Hag pushed and pushed to get the winger from Ajax, finally landing him for more than £80 million. When you consider what he returned, the cost is astonishing. Antony’s first goal against Arsenal was hardly a portent of things to come.

Instead, the Brazilian has become a squad player at best. He has only scored once in almost a year, and every time he takes the field, he appears to give a moment that demonstrates why he is possibly the worst failure in Premier League history.

Poor attitude, strops, tantrums, and a lack of finished output. It has been alleged that under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s leadership, United conducted a dossier on Antony and valued him at £25 million. That may say it all.