Manchester United head coach Erik ten Hag says that his side are capable of winning the Premier League this season.
Manchester United head coach Erik ten Hag has insisted that his side are capable of winning the Premier League this season.
The Red Devils finished eighth in the top flight last term, which represented their worst campaign in the current format, and the team have not lifted the Premier League trophy since 2013.
However, Ten Hag has delivered two trophies during his time at the helm, and the Dutchman is confident that Man United are in a position to challenge for this season’s Premier League title.
“We also won two trophies, which gave us belief that we are capable of winning,” Ten Hag told reporters ahead of Friday night’s Premier League opener with Fulham at Old Trafford.
“With the two trophies we won more than any other club, apart from City, in England. We are confident, we have a good team, we have a good squad. We have to be more consistent and we want to win every competition in which we are taking part, definitely also the Premier League.”
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Ten Hag explains Zirkzee situation
Ten Hag also confirmed on Thursday that new signings Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui would be in the squad against Fulham, while he explained why Joshua Zirkzee is yet to represent the club.
Zirkzee moved to Old Trafford from Bologna last month but did not begin training with his new teammates until last week due to his involvement for Netherlands at Euro 2024.
The forward was an unused substitute against Manchester City in the Community Shield last weekend, meanwhile, and Ten Hag has said that the new signing is now “close” to featuring.
“I think he is close, so that is one of the complications,” Ten Hag added. “We don’t have a pre-season with him so we need games to bring him.
“If you see his background, in the last months he had an injury with Bologna. In the end, he made the selection for the Netherlands, so that helped him out of our first few weeks of pre-season.
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Ten Hag talks-up Zirkzee, Hojlund “potential”
“So no games – that is his problem in this moment. But now it is his third week in training, you see him stepping up, his fitness levels are improving and he needs more minutes and we can’t do it in a friendly, it has to go into the league.
“I am so happy I have those (attacking) choices, that fit for all units, all positions, we need a number of players going into the season. We think about 60 games so it will be a survival of the fittest, we need squad depth.
“You have to make choices and you need rotation. No player can play all the games but also internal competition and you also need some weapons to use tactically.
“I am very happy we have those numbers and we have quality players so we can make those choices. We also have quality players with different abilities and that is good to have them in the squad.
“I think we have two young strikers who have the potential to grow into top-class strikers in [Rasmus] Hojlund and Zirkzee.”
Man United will take on Fulham, Brighton & Hove Albion and Liverpool in their opening three games of the new Premier League campaign before tackling Southampton after the September international break.