Ten Hag has emerged as one of the frontrunners to take over from interim United coach Ralf Rangnick at the end of the season, having reportedly impressed United chiefs during initial talks last week.

The 52-year-old has won multiple domestic trophies since taking over at Ajax in 2017 and, at this stage, appears to lead the way ahead of PSG’s Mauricio Pochettino for the soon-to-be vacant United post.

German Rangnick will step down this summer and move to a consultancy role. In that position, he is expected to play a major part in the decision as to who will replace him.

Steve McClaren worked alongside Manchester United candidate Erik ten Hag in the past as well as Sir Alex Ferguson. Ten Hag was McClaren’s assistant manager at FC Twente in 2008/09 before they became Dutch champions in 2010.

This was long before McClaren was Ferguson’s assistant during the treble season, but from his experience coaching down the years, he is able to draw comparisons between the pair.

“His great strength lies not just in his attention to detail and organisation,” McClaren told the Daily Telegraph. “He has a clear philosophy of how he wants to play football; the environment he wants to create.

“The player progression programme was a key part of Twente. He has done that at Ajax too, for each player from the academy to the first team.

“You look at Hakim Ziyech and now the [Brazilian] striker Antony, a very good player who will be the next one to go. I have seen this Ajax team and it’s very good.

“Erik is very disciplined and people have to buy into that and have that work ethic. Tactically he’s outstanding.

“He worked with Pep [Guardiola] at Bayern Munich and took in his philosophy too. They called him ‘Mini Pep’ out there.

As for Ten Hag’s meticulous attention to detail, McClaren added: “The only other one I would have seen do that? That would have been the gaffer [Alex Ferguson].”

That’s huge praise for Ten Hag and It sounds like Ten Hag is the real deal but United still need to make sure they are happy with the work they’ve done to find the right manager. There will be a second round of interviews before a final; decision is made.