Erik ten Hag refuses to slap back at Roy Keane comment after £109m Man Utd duo singled out

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag refused to hit back at Roy Keane’s recent comments on Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee. The ex-United skipper admitted he has reservations about the £109million duo, as well as Red Devils goalkeeper Andre Onana.

Ten Hag, 54, will lead his side out at Old Trafford for the first Premier League match of the new campaign against Fulham on tonight (Friday). However, Keane’s comments suggest United may experience similar issues to last season – a lack of cutting edge in both boxes.

While many managers are quick to passionately defend their players when criticism is dished out, Ten Hag opted to remain surprisingly diplomatic. Instead, he only talked about the potential both his forwards have, instead of talking up what they offer the team for the here and now.

Before the Dutchman’s press conference, Keane had said: “It’s always a worry for me about competing. I still worry about the spine of that Manchester United team. For all the nice play they have and good players, I still worry about the goalkeeper and strikers.

“On paper they have a decent squad, but the reality is when they’ve played games, and last year with their record in the league they were so open. If you’re on about competing, I worry about the spine of the team.”

And when asked about Keane’s comments, Ten Hag said: “I think we have two young strikers who have the potential to grow into top-class strikers in Hojlund and Zirkzee. I think he (Zirkzee) is close, so that is one of the complications. We don’t have a pre-season with him so we need games to bring him.

“If you see his background in the last months he had an injury with Bologna, in the end he made the selection for the Netherlands, so that helped him out of our first few weeks of pre-season so no games that is his problem in this moment.

“But now it is his third week in training, you see him stepping up, his fitness levels are improving and he needs more minutes and we can’t do it in a friendly, it has to go into the league.”

Zirkzee arrived from Bologna in a deal worth £36.5m. Meanwhile, Hojlund is about to start his second season at the club since his seismic £72m arrival from Atalanta last year.

The Dane needed 14 Premier League matches to score his first goal, which led to an astonishing streak of seven goals in his next six matches. While he went on to add another three goals in his next 10, his campaign was inconsistent on the whole. Ten Hag will be hoping his team can hit the ground running when Fulham arrive at Old Trafford.