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Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag humbly reacted to a clip of himself as a child giving Barcelona icon Johan Cruyff advice. The video of a 13-year-old Ten Hag has gone viral on social media.
The Red Devils boss advises Cruyff to be wary of his communication with youth players, advising the Oranje great to be mindful of players' mental strength:
“I think you should watch out that you don’t yell to the youth too much, because you can break a player like that."
He continued:
“But on a higher level, such as the first team of Ajax, you should be able to say something about it. Those guys train almost every day in the week. If they keep making the same mistakes, you should be able to confront them.”
Ten Hag oversaw another victory for Manchester United on Saturday (January 28). A 3-1 win over Reading on Saturday (January 28) secured his side a place in the fifth round of the FA Cup.
The former Ajax coach was shown a video of his encounter with Cruyff following the game while being interviewed by ITV. He was asked for his thoughts on the clip to which he compared the Barcelona legend to footballing icons Pele, Franz Beckenbauer and Diego Maradona:
“Long time ago. It’s great, I think Johan Cruyff had such an impact on football like Pele, Beckenbauer and Maradona."
Ten Hag then touched on his reasons for discussing his views with Cruyff:
“It’s my character, obviously, it’s who I am. I think I was brave and I wanted to be a good football player, I wanted to learn and when you have a moment with Johan Cruyff, you take that moment."
Cruyff is renowned as the coach who invented modern football. He took over Barcelona when they had won just one league title in 28 years. He led the Blaugrana to four La Liga titles in a row.
Manchester United fans loving life under Ten Hag ahead of Europa League clash with Barcelona
Since his arrival in May last year, Manchester United fans have quickly fallen in love with their new manager. He took over a club that had stagnated over the years since Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement in 2013. They finished sixth in the league last season.
Ten Hag has transformed the team's fortunes, taking them up to fourth in the league and playing the best style of football since Sir Alex's era. His signings have been astute, with Casemiro, Lisandro Martinez and Christian Eriksen all flourishing.
The Dutch manager has 23, drawn three and lost six of 32 matches in charge at Old Trafford. He boasts a win percentage of 71.9% and has the best record of any United manager from their first 30 games.
However, it is Ten Hag's character that Manchester United fans have particularly admired. An example is when he joined his players in a 13.8km sprint in the aftermath of a 3-0 defeat to Brentford as punishment for their poor performance. How far Ten Hag's side have come will be put to the test when they face Barcelona in the Europa League playoffs on February 16 and 23.
