Just five weeks ago, Manchester United chief executive Omar Berrada publicly backed manager Erik ten Hag.

Throwing his weight behind the embattled Dutchman, he declared: “Erik has our full backing. We’re going to continue working very closely with him to help him get the best results.”

Those words were echoed by sporting director Dan Ashworth, who linked up with United this past summer, following his controversial exit from Newcastle United.

“I see my job is to support him [Ten Hag] in every way I possibly can,” Ashworth chimed in. “To allow him to fully focus on the training pitch and the tactical plan to deliver success for Manchester United.”

However, both those statements will be tested on Tuesday when United’s top brass, which includes Berrada, Ashworth, technical director Jason Wilcox, co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sir Dave Brailsford, meet to discuss Ten Hag’s future, alongside Joel Glazer, part of the majority ownership group, reports the Mirror.

Not long after Berrada and Ashworth’s public support of Ten Hag, United were thrashed 3-0 by arch-rivals Liverpool at Old Trafford prior to the September international break. And since that humiliation, life at Old Trafford has been testing for Ten Hag and United, with a battering by Tottenham by the same scoreline following in their next home league game.

United currently sit 14th in the Premier League table having picked up eight points from seven games which is their worst ever start to a domestic campaign. To make matters worse for Ten Hag, their 0-0 draw against Aston Villa on Sunday last weekend actually saw United out do their previous worst start, which was just last season.

They have only managed to net five goals from seven games their lowest tally in 52 years and have drawn a blank in their last three league matches. They’ve played 11 matches this season, with victories only against Fulham, Southampton and Barnsley. While today’s meeting in Mayfair is a regular monthly event, one topic will dominate the discussion whether to stick with Ten Hag or not.

Following Sunday’s draw to Aston Villa, Ten Hag reiterated his belief that he and the United board share the same long-term vision and agreed when they started working together in the summer that there would be no immediate solution to the team’s issues.

But given the worrying decline this season, he has genuine reason to worry and will find out in the next 48 hours whether he still has the backing of his superiors, once they decide if they need a fresh voice and vision in the dressing room. If Ratcliffe’s recent public comments on Ten Hag are any indication of what the United board are thinking, then the 54-year-old may have to start looking for a new job.

Source: DailyStar

France captain Kylian Mbappé is facing criticism in his home country for skipping Les Bleus’ Nations League games against Israel and Belgium while being available to play for Real Madrid.

The forward picked up a muscle injury last month but made his return to the pitch in the Champions League last Wednesday as Madrid suffered a shock defeat to Lille.

France coach Didier Deschamps left Mbappé out of the squad he announced on Thursday, saying the 25-year-old lacked preparation, having played too few matches.

Mbappé started Madrid’s LaLiga win against Villarreal on Saturday, though he was substituted after 71 minutes.

“Either you’re injured, and you don’t play with your club and you’re not called up in the national team,” former France international Maxime Bossis told French sports daily L’Equipe on Monday.

“But when you come off the bench in the Champions League and you start a league game, it makes things fuzzy. He’s a special player. We’ve known that with Michel Platini, when we still wanted him with us when he was injured.”

Mbappé’s situation is more complicated because the former Paris Saint-Germain player is the national team captain after being handed the armband ahead of Antoine Griezmann, who last week announced his retirement from international football.

Griezmann’s commitment to Les Bleus was never in doubt as the Atlético Madrid forward played a record 84 consecutive matches for his country between 2017 and 2024.

“As a captain [Mbappé] must be an example for the fans, and he has not been,” Fabien Bonnet, spokesperson for the Irresistibles Francais, the main France supporters’ group, told L’Equipe.

“What emerges is that the real captain, Antoine Griezmann, is gone.”

France, second in Group A, face Israel in Budapest on Thursday and travel to Brussels to play Belgium on Monday.

Manchester City have claimed a partial victory in a legal fight with the Premier League over commercial rules governing clubs, including two large sponsorship deals the club was blocked from completing.

An independent panel found the Premier League’s rules regarding commercial deals between clubs and related parties break competition law in two specific ways.

City made the legal challenge against 25 of the regulations in the Premier League’s rulebook regarding Associated Party Transactions (APTs), as well as its decision to reject the two sponsorship deals.

Manchester City have claimed a partial victory in a legal fight with the Premier League over commercial rules governing clubs, including two large sponsorship deals the club was blocked from completing.

An independent panel found the Premier League’s rules regarding commercial deals between clubs and related parties break competition law in two specific ways.

City made the legal challenge against 25 of the regulations in the Premier League’s rulebook regarding Associated Party Transactions (APTs), as well as its decision to reject the two sponsorship deals.

The panel found partly in Manchester City’s favour, agreeing that shareholder loans – where shareholders or ‘associated parties’ lend to or borrow money from the clubs they own – should not be excluded from those rules.

City stated those loans total some £1.5bn across the division, including all of Arsenal and most of Brighton’s borrowing.

The panel also agreed with City’s claim an updated version of the APT rules, which came into force in February this year, were unlawful because of wording changes, which tightened the interpretation of what constitutes ‘fair market value’ in commercial agreements, was unlawful.

The two sponsorship deals, with First Abu Dhabi Bank and another with Etihad Aviation Group, were blocked unfairly, the panel found, as the Premier League did not give City all of the information used for its decisions in time for them to respond.

They also found the Premier League, which itself admitted was understaffed at the time, took several months too long to reach its decision in both cases.

City’s other claims against the Premier League were dismissed.

The Premier League has said it welcomes the tribunal’s findings, “which endorsed the overall objectives, framework and decision-making of the APT system … (but did) identify a small number of discrete elements of the rules which do not, in their current form, comply with competition and public law requirements”.

“These elements can quickly and effectively be remedied by the League and clubs,” the Premier League added.

City thanked the panel and said the findings found the Premier League to have “abused its dominant position” with its approach and rules.