Manchester United are on the cusp of hiring Jelle ten Rouwelaar as their new goalkeeping coach.
Since taking charge of sporting affairs, INEOS have been conducting an overhaul in multiple departments behind-the-scenes including the coaching staff.
Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox were swiftly brought in and earlier this week Dan Ashworth was finally confirmed as sporting director while Christopher Vivell has joined as director of global talent.
A busy week has continued as it was announced today that the club have triggered the one-year extension option in Erik ten Hag’s new deal and the club are close to appointing new assistant coaches Ruud van Nistelrooy and Rene Hake.
It now seems more changes are afoot with The Athletic reporting, “Manchester United are hiring a new goalkeeping coach by moving for Jelle ten Rouwelaar, who spent last season in the Premier League at Burnley.”
When he joins, the 43-year-old will be the third Dutchman to be added to the coaching staff this summer. Incidentally, he had actually agreed to join Ajax two months ago.
In spite of this obstacle, “United are working on a compensation package with the Dutch club and a deal is expected to be agreed.”
Ten Rouwelaar will replace Richard Hartis, who had joined the team under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer back in 2019, and will work with the current senior keeping department of Andre Onana, Altay Bayindir and Tom Heaton, who recently signed a new one-year deal with his boyhood club.
The Dutchman “is regarded as a modern goalkeeping coach” and introduced various sessions to transform Burnley into a side that could pass out from the back. He had great results as the side from Turf Moor “took the Championship by storm in his first season”.
The former NAC Breda player has had previous experience with Anderlecht before his stint at Burnley and has also coached the Dutch under-20 side.
One of the many frustrating aspects of last season for United fans was the team’s inability to pass out from the back effectively despite having arguably one of the world’s best ball-playing keepers in Onana.
With the likely signing of Matthijs de Ligt to partner Lisandro Martinez, United would have a backline that can excel on the ball, so the signing of a specialist ball-playing keeping coach will surely excite fans and indicate that the team is heading in the right direction.
