Erik ten Hag has revealed that he has met with the Manchester United board to discuss summer recruitment and believes those initial conversations have been positive.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe is expected to oversee a summer of change at United after his 25 per cent takeover was confirmed and ratified in February. Although there has been speculation surrounding the future of Ten Hag, he could be offered another transfer window to try and turn their fortunes around.
Despite booking their place in a second successive FA Cup final, United have endured a disappointing season. The Red Devils have lost 12 matches in the Premier League this term - the joint-most the club have ever suffered since its introduction in 1992. With four matches to go, United sit sixth, six points behind fifth-place Tottenham and one point ahead of Newcastle in seventh.
As well as that, United encountered a humiliating group-stage exit in the Champions League and crashed out of the Carabao Cup in the fourth round. It has been a disappointing campaign all-round and United will be eager to get their summer business right to attempt to improve the squad.
DON'T SCRAP REPLAYS! Join our petition to keep the magic of the FA Cup alive!
Speaking about the conversations Ten Hag has already had with the United board over summer transfer targets, the Dutchman told Sky Sports: "Initial meetings are good.
"Now we have to take things quickly because the summer is coming. It's a very important period where you come into a window. We want to make the next step into our squad and make plans to create an environment that avoids this year's problems in injuries."
United have been dealt their fair share of injury problems this season, leaving their star-studded squad looking paper thin during the back end of the campaign. Casemiro has been used at centre-back in recent weeks due to a lack of options, while Diogo Dialot has been deployed at left-back.
That has certainly not helped their cause, and United could strengthen in the transfer market to ease the worries of another injury crisis happening again going into next season. Alongside that, United can utilise the strength of their academy system, which has helped develop Alejandro Garnacho and produce Kobbie Mainoo, with both players becoming integral members of their first-team squad.
When asked about the leadership model at United, Ten Hag said: "There is a game model here. How do you think [Alejandro] Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo are able to come up? That's because it was one of my objectives from the previous leadership team to bring that in.
"It was already going, they were already improving he academy. You can see they won the FA Youth Cup, the academy teams are becoming champions and that is the structure that was laid out a couple of years ago.
"Now you see some revenues from it, and the best is by bringing players [into] the first team like Kobbie and Garnacho. They are players who are very young and are already internationals for England and Argentina. They are at a quite good level and one of the best players in this moment in their nations and they are world-class nations."
Join our new WhatsApp communityand receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.