Alan Shearer names Manchester United 'failure' who condemned Erik ten Hag to sack
Erik ten Hag oversaw a number of signings prior to his Manchester United sacking but Alan Shearer believes the failure of mega-money capture Antony was a major contributor
Alan Shearer admits the signing of Antony - which was led by Erik ten Hag - has contributed to his sacking.
Manchester United gave the Dutchman his marching orders on Monday after the loss to West Ham 24 hours earlier. The defeat leaves the Red Devils 14th in the table as they endure their worst ever start to a Premier League season.
Ten Hag has continued to come under fire in recent months having survived a summer review into his position. The Dutchman oversaw a host of disappointing results last term and, throughout his tenure, his decisions in the transfer market have continued to undermine him.
In his first summer he pushed for the signing of Antony, whom he'd just worked with at Ajax. The Manchester outfit eventually had to spend a near club-record fee to land the Brazilian. He scored on his debut but he largely tailed off from there and in the past 18 months has scored just four times with his failure coming to define Ten Hag's tenure.
Shearer told Betfair: "Erik ten Hag will rightly point to the two cup competitions he has won, but Man United finished eighth last season, they're currently 14th and a club of that size will always be judged on where they finish in the Premier League. Those league positions, for a while now, haven't been good enough.
"When you look at other new managers coming into the Premier League, you can already tell what identity they have, how they're trying to play, and we still hadn’t seen that at Man United after a long time under Ten Hag. A lot of the players who have come in are players he worked with before, and he really wanted to sign those players because he pushed the board for them.
"When you're spending close to £90million on Antony, that signing must be a success, and he certainly hasn't been."
Antony isn't even a regular starter having fallen way down the pecking order under the manager who signed him. The club did an assessment on the Brazilian back when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was in charge and deemed him a player worth in the region of £20m.
Ten Hag's confidence in the Brazilian meant the club went above and beyond to land his services - a move they have come to regret. Antony is regarded as one of the biggest flops in the Premier League and isn't the only big name signing who's failed to deliver.
The former United boss landed Mason Mount in his second summer. The ex-Chelsea man has been hampered by injuries but there remains serious doubt about where he'd fit into the team's line-up. Matthijs de Ligt was signed just months ago but has endured a poor start.
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