Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson believes Graham Potter would have been a better fit for Manchester United than Chelsea.

The 47-year-old was announced as the London club’s new manager on Thursday but Merson says he had already backed him to be hired by United before they decided to go for Erik ten Hag instead:

“I’ve said before that Manchester United should have got him ahead of Erik ten Hag and I stand by that statement, but he’s set to take over the reins at Stamford Bridge now and it’ll be interesting to see how it turns out.”

It will be interesting to see which manager ends up being more successful. Ten Hag may not have much experience of the Premier League but he is a very good tactician, having managed to get Ajax to the Champions League semi-finals in 2019.

In contrast, Potter has very little experience of continental competitions but he has proven to be a very smart operator in England’s top flight.

Only time will tell whether United were right to go with ten Hag. He has had a mixed start to life at Old Trafford, but he will be hoping to build on some of the good performances he has seen against the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal.