United have gone from strength to strength since Ronaldo’s £173million-a-year move to Saudi Arabia and are still challenging on all fronts after ending their six-year trophy drought.

Ten Hag added that he knew the problem that plagued a disastrous 2021/22 season before arriving, explaining his strict focus on discipline to garner improvement from Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and others.

“There was [a lack of discipline] – and I don’t have to lie about it. Top players like structure – and not only on the pitch – so you need some rules,” Ten Hag continued.

“I think it’s obvious in every organisation that when there are no rules and no discipline in taking those rules seriously, then you create a mess.

“It was quite obvious what was needed because I could see on the pitch what was going on.”

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