Erik ten Hag believes United can match City in Sunday’s Manchester derby

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag is determined to challenge Manchester City and restore Manchester United to their former glory as the Premier League’s top team.

Despite trailing their rivals by 15 points, the Dutchman is confident in United’s potential to reclaim their dominance in the future. He leads his team to the Etihad on Sunday with a strong belief in their ability to compete at the highest level.

Jim Ratcliffe, the club’s recent minority owner, has expressed his ambition to dethrone City and elevate Manchester United to the top spot within the next three years. However, he acknowledges that United have considerable ground to make up to achieve this goal.

Ten Hag told reporters in his pre-match press conference: “At the same time, we know where we are now. We’ve also seen that there are moments where we go toe-to-toe, so that’s the belief we have as a team.

“We have to pick up those moments and we have to prove it in every game and I think we’re able to with this squad we have, that we can go toe-to-toe with them. The short history shows that.”

To narrow the distance, Manchester United are adopting a strategy inspired by Manchester City’s achievements. Omar Berrada, City’s chief football operations officer, will transition to United in the summer, assuming the role of chief executive.

Additionally, United are actively pursuing Jason Wilcox for the position of technical director. Wilcox, a former Blackburn and England winger, previously served at City and currently holds the role of director of football at Southampton.

One of the biggest criticisms of the Red Devils in recent years has been the amount of big money transfers wasted on players which turn out to be ‘flops’. Adding smart people at the top of the football club can only be a good thing and United wasting millions of pounds could be a thing of the past starting this summer.