Man Utd blow as Erik ten Hag’s top assistant manager target Fred Rutten REJECTS chance to join him at Old Trafford

ERIK TEN HAG has suffered a setback in his preparations to take over at Manchester United after his first choice assistant rejected the chance to join him at Old Trafford.

Fred Rutten, who worked with Ten Hag at PSV between 2009 and 2012, was reportedly the front runner to become the Dutchman's right hand man at Man Utd.

But despite discussing the idea with the current Ajax boss, he has opted to link up with Ruud van Nistelrooy at PSV instead.

Speaking on , he said: "“Erik ten Hag has asked me to be his assistant at Manchester United, I said no. Everyone makes his own choices in life."

He then went on to add: "I have a family, I have grandchildren. I want to see them every now and then.

“At Manchester United you get on a train and you can’t get off it. I want to feel comfortable in something you step into. That is the case with PSV.

“It’s nice when you have grandchildren, who you see every now and then and who can play ball with.”

Rutten has managed several high-profile teams including Schalke, PSV, Feyenoord and Anderlecht.

But he will now assume the position as assistant at PSV behind legendary Man Utd striker Van Nistelrooy.

The hammer blow to United's plans comes just 24 hours after they were humiliated by Brighton in a resounding 4-0 defeat.

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It is now officially the club's worst points tally in the Premier League era.

And after the match Ralf Rangnick stated the club could need EIGHT new players in the summer.

He said: "In the end football is pretty easy, you just need to win games.

"In order to do that it's obvious with quite a few players whose contracts are expiring we need a number of new players.

"There is already at least something like a number of players that are really top players for this club but as I said we need all the other areas.

";[I] suppose there will be six or eight new players.

"They should be top players to strengthen the quality of the squad.";

United have plenty of stars on their transfer wishlist including Declan Rice, Christopher Nkunku, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Frenkie de Jong.

Ten Hag was announced as Man Utd's new manager last month after lengthy speculation over who would succeed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as the next permanent manager.

The Ajax boss was always one of the favourites to take over at Old Trafford along with PSG boss Mauricio Pochettino.

But now he has been appointed, there has been a lot of talk as to who will assist him in the coaching of the team.

And former England manager Steve McLaren was one man touted for the role.

Ten Hag was McLaren's assistant during his time at FC Twente.

He could now choose to revisit the idea after Rutten's decision to choose PSV.