Red Devils boss Ten Hag managed De Jong for two years at Ajax, with the pair winning the Eredivisie title and reaching the Champions League semi-finals together. United initially tried to sign the midfielder before his big-money switch to Barca in 2019 and were then locked in lengthy negotiations with the Spanish club in the summer of Ten Hag’s arrival, but a move never materialised.

De Jong was key to Ten Hag’s possession-based style of play at Ajax and his arrival in 2022 could have helped the United boss instil those philosophies at Old Trafford. But the failure in recruiting a midfielder of De Jong’s ilk to partner Casemiro has seen the Red Devils struggle to deliver dominant performances and instead rely on a more direct playing style - which has resulted in criticism being aimed at the manager.

Ten Hag told Gary Neville in an interview with Sky Sports: "It would have been Frenkie de Jong and Casemiro [in midfield]. They would really be connected with each other. They would be really complementary to each other. That's a typical player, if you want to play the Ajax style, you need that type of player."