Man Utd head coach Erik ten Hag has been labelled a “dictator” after he made “false promises” during his time at Bundesliga side Bayern Munich.
The 53-year-old has enjoyed a great start to life at Man Utd since joining the club last summer from Ajax. He earned the job at Old Trafford after he helped the Dutch side win the Eredivisie title on three separate occasions.
Before stepping up to manage some of the biggest clubs in Europe, Ten Hag had spells in charge of Go Ahead Eagles, Bayern Munich II and Utrecht.
Ten Hag spent around two years in charge of Bayern Munich’s reserve team between 2013 and 2015 and he lifted the Regionalliga Bayern title with them at the end of the 2013/14 campaign.
During his time at Bayern Munich II, Ten Hag came across midfielder Riccardo Basta (28), who now plays in the fifth tier of German football with VfR Garching.
Basta was progressing through the ranks at Bayern when Ten Hag was at the club but he ultimately did not make a single senior appearance before he was let go.
He has now spoken out about his time working with Ten Hag. Given how his career has declined since they worked together, it is pretty clear that his following comments are a case of sour grapes.
Basta claims Ten Hag “made false promises” to him over his first-team chances and the current Man Utd boss was apparently “almost a dictator”.
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“Every child dreams of becoming a professional footballer and at Bayern I was very close to that dream,” Basta told Sport 1.
“But I was laughed at, and false promises were made. After my first contract extension, he (Ten Hag) told me that they were counting on me and that there was a plan for me.
“I was supposed to become a link between the first and second team and occasionally be in the squad. I thought that was great, of course. In the end, however, nothing came of it.
“Personally, I did not have a good relationship with Ten Hag. He was almost a dictator. He had a plan and we players had to follow it.”
Ten Hag’s Man Utd remain on track to qualify for the Champions League after their win over Nottm Forest last weekend.
Their focus will now switch to the Europa League as they face Sevilla in the second leg of their quarter-final tie on Thursday night.
The Red Devils were 2-0 up front at one stage but Seville netted twice late on to level the tie heading into this weekend’s return leg in Spain.
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