The chance to sign a player from Manchester United was turned down by Paris Saint-Germain. There is a time and a place for this.
On the pitch, ten Hag made a dream start as Manchester United manager, but off the pitch he is finding out just how difficult a job it can be.
The real business of the league doesn't start for another month, but the off-season at a club like United can be a big deal. Questions about the club's ability to strengthen the squad ahead of the new season dominated his time in Thailand.
We've been here before and this has a familiar ring to it.
The same part of southeast Asia where David Moyes arrived for his first tour as United boss was where Wayne Rooney was rumored to want out. Nine years ago, there were similarities between this summer and then.
In his first summer, Ten Hag was asked to travel half a world away, while also trying to lead a recruitment drive that was supposed to be a new era. Instead, he faced questions about Rooney. After initially making the trip, he left due to a injury. At Rooney's first news conference at the Rajamangala National Stadium in Thailand, there was a lot of speculation that Rooney wasn't happy at Manchester United and wanted to move to another club.
The Scots said Wayne Rooney is not for sale. I think I have covered all of Wayne's issues. Everything you need to know about his injury has been given to you. This isn't about any one individual, Manchester United is a football club and I have a team.
I'm more interested in the team than anything else. Some of the questions are reverting back to things I've covered.
At his first news conference of the summer on Monday, Ten Hag said the same thing he had said nearly a decade ago. The Dutch said that they were planning with the Portuguese player for this season. I'm excited to work with him. He hasn't told me that he's leaving. I don't think it's a good idea to sell Cristiano, he's in our plans and we want to do well together.
Something Ten Hag will be able to empathise with is the difficulty of bringing in new players at the club. Cesc Fabregas stayed put despite a number of offers from United, despite the fact that the strategy was built around him. There were doubts about whether he really wanted to leave. There are suggestions that the top target of Ten Hag is reluctant to join.
As well as trying to prise away Marouane Fellaini and Leighton Baines from his former club, David Moyes went back to his former club to try and sign other players.
If the deal had not been done by July 31, United would have had to pay more than 25 million dollars. It was a bad summer for Ed Woodward, with a poor transfer window leaving him with one hand tied behind his back.
This is the first summer that Richard Arnold has been chief executive. He made it clear that he needs more help when he spoke in Thailand.
He said that they know what they want and that they want the right players. We need players in offence and in the middle of the field. We are still searching.
"It's going to be a long season but a season that is quite unusual due to the World Cup so you need to be prepared for this and need more players than in a normal season."
The main difference between the two is that Ten Hag's reign started with optimism, while the other had to suffer humiliation in his first game in charge.
Many still think he underestimated the job he was hired to do. There is at least hope that Ten Hag can succeed where he failed.
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