Rio Ferdinand shares his six-point plan to help Erik ten Hag transform Manchester United

Rio Ferdinand has shared his six-point plan for Erik ten Hag to follow when he begins his life as Manchester United manager.

The Dutchman was confirmed as the club’s new manager on Thursday after signing a £9m-a-year deal until June 2025.

It is clear that he has a daunting task ahead of him to turn United’s fortunes around and the 3-1 loss to Arsenal on Saturday was the latest in a dismal string of recent results.

Erik ten Hag has signed a £9m a year deal as Manchester United manager until June 2025

Speaking before the game on BT Sport, Ferdinand outlined the key areas he feels ten Hag need to address.

The former United defender said “open surgery is going too far”, referring to Ralf Rangnick’s comments earlier this week.

Ferdinand’s six-point plan is as follows: establish the culture, improve recruiting, reset the structure, clarify the style of play, embrace the youth and develop players.

Speaking of the Manchester United culture, he said: “I mean having areas where there is discipline, having responsible players on and off the pitch.” You need consequences when things go wrong.

“I don’t feel like there’s a fear factor from any player, that if they do something wrong, go out of line or don’t stick to tactical strategies, someone will criticize them.”

Rio Ferdinand has laid out his six-point plan for ten Hags to follow him into the Old Trafford dugout.

United lost 3-1 to Arsenal on Saturday afternoon as ten Hag’s mammoth task became clear.

‘The players who have come to this club, how many have improved?’ Ferdinand continued while he went on to recruit.

‘That also comes down to training, but how many have come in and you say ‘they’re a perfect match’? I haven’t seen enough of that.

Stating that “there needs to be a clear style of play”, Ferdinand said: “You have players who don’t run, that’s not their best asset, you have to make them run.” Look at Manchester City, at Bernardo Silva, at Thiago at Liverpool.

“These are players that you don’t associate with hard work, but you watch them play, they get around that field, put pressure on people and make sure you can’t walk off the field and shoot them that they’re not working hard enough or not putting in the mileage.’

Ralf Rangnick said United’s problems will only be solved by ‘open heart surgery’

Anthony Elanga is one of the young players currently arriving at Manchester United.

Finally, the expert highlighted the importance of giving opportunities to young players.

“The message from above has to be we have time, we have patience, we believe in youth,” he said.

“History in this football club tells us that we play children, whether we are in Europe or not. Sir Alex Ferguson, for all those years, the Busby years, they are in Europe challenging to win things. Young players showed up, so don’t tell me it can’t happen, it can’