Erik ten Hag has revealed that Manchester United are in negotiations to sign Matthijs de Ligt but insists he isn’t solely responsible for the idea.

United completed the signing of Leny Yoro from Lille for an initial £52million on Thursday but are still keen to sign another centre-back. Raphael Varane left the club on the expiry of his contract and United have sold Willy Kambwala to Villarreal and are understood to be open to selling Victor Lindelof too.

De Ligt played under Ten Hag’s management at Ajax before joining Bayern Munich and, if he moves to Old Trafford, would be following in the footsteps of fellow Ajax alumni Lisandro Martinez, Antony and Andre Onana. The 24-year-old defender is keen to leave Bayern and join the increasingly Dutch group at United, which now includes £36m striker Joshua Zirkzee and coaches Ruud van Nistelrooy, Rene Hake and Jelle ten Rouwelaar.

From the outside it would seem that Ten Hag is calling the shots, but the United boss insists that every new arrival – including De Ligt – is jointly agreed with the new structure put in place by owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

”We still have to wait and see whether De Ligt will come,” Ten Hag told Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dadblad. “But the good thing is, during my vacation I was out of the process for three or four weeks. During that period it was really the club, the newly established scouting and recruitment department, that brought in these players.

“The fact that there are also Dutch players among them is actually a coincidence. Primarily these were players who were brought in by our organisation. But of course I support them, let that be clear – and we still make the choice together.”

Mirror Football reported in June that one of the stipulations of keeping Ten Hag as manager was that he would be less involved in transfers, partly due to the poor return on the £85m invested in Antony. Sporting director Dan Ashworth, technical director Jason Wilcox and chief executive Omar Berrada have been hired to change tack, yet it seems that Ten Hag is still asserting his influence.

Matthijs de Ligt could leave Bayern Munich for Manchester United ( 
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”I know Matthijs well, of course, I’m not going to deny that,” he said. “Two years ago I already wanted to get him, but he was already very far along with Bayern Munich. But believe it or not: he didn’t come specifically from my head in this process.”

Ten Hag is aware of the perception about United’s transfer process. “I know that it creates a certain image, of course I understand how that works,” he added. “But ultimately the criterion that counts above all else is: is the player good or not good? Does he fit in terms of character, age and of course the quality that we are looking for.”