ERIK TEN HAG is making a habit of relying on his old pals from his days at Ajax.
The Manchester United boss sealed the transfer of two more former Ajax stars this week taking his total spend on familiar faces to a whopping £236.8MILLION.
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United announced the arrivals of Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui in a double switch from Bayern Munich on Tuesday.
The Bavarian duo both spent their formative years developing under Ten Hag in Amsterdam and have now reunited with the Dutchman at Old Trafford.
De Ligt and Noussiar join three other ex-Ajax men who have been lured to the Theatre of Dreams since Ten Hag’s arrival in 2022.
Here SunSport takes a look at every player Ten Hag has fallen back on during his tenure with the Red Devils…
Matthijs de Ligt – £45m
Matthijs de Ligt worked under Ten Hag in perhaps his most successful Ajax team.
The centre-back was made captain by Ten Hag when he was just 19 years old and played pivotal role in the 2018/19 Ajax side that shocked the world by making it into the Champions League semi-final.
Since leaving Ajax in the summer of 2019 De Ligt has played for both Juventus and Bayern Munich, failing to recreate his heroics from the start of his career.
But a return to the familiar system that he thrived in some five years ago could help revitalise the 25-year-old’s career.
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Noussair Mazraoui – £12.8m
Mazraoui, 26, left Bayern Munich alongside De Ligt to work alongside Ten Hag once again.
The Morocco international was part of Ten Hag’s final Ajax side before the tactician left Amsterdam to pursue the job at Old Trafford.
Mazraoui is the cheapest name on the list of former players that Ten Hag has convinced the Man Utd board to splash out on.
Andre Onana – £47m
Shot-stopper Andre Onana cost United a whopping £47m last summer – a fee that makes him the third most expensive goalkeeper in history.
Onana was signed from Inter Milan, but had formed part of Ten Hag’s Ajax side before his Italian switch.
The Cameroon keeper was the man between the sticks during Ajax’s Champions League run under Ten Hag and will be in familiar surroundings with new man De Ligt back in front of him.
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Lisandro Martinez – £46m
Lisandro Martinez is certainly the most successful purchase on this list with the defender one of United’s top performers when fit.
Martinez cost the Red Devils £46m, but has looked decent value for money since his arrival in 2022.
The central defender made 120 appearances under Ten Hag before switching to Man Utd.
Antony – £86m
Antony made 79 appearences under Erik ten Hag at Ajax, racking up 42 goal contributions in that time.
That would go some way to explaining how the Man Utd boss managed to convince the bigwigs at Old Trafford to fork out an eye watering £86MILLION on the winger in 2022.
Since arriving in Manchester Antony has featured 82 times, making just 16 goal contributions with the heavy weight of his astronomical price tag.
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