Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag insists he has no preference for Dutch-bred signings.

Three of United’s four summer signings – Joshua Zirkzee, Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui – were born or played in the Netherlands and 11 out of Ten Hag’s 20 recruits have played in his homeland. United hired a new chief executive and technical director earlier this year, while Dan Ashworth was appointed their inaugural sporting director, yet their habit of targeting Dutch-schooled signings under Ten Hag has continued.

New assistant coaches Ruud van Nistelrooy and Rene Hake, and new goalkeeping coach Jelle ten Rouwellar are also Dutch. Six of Ten Hag’s additions have played for Ajax yet the United manager said last October he “can’t play like Ajax (at United) because I have different players”.

“Not for favourite,” Ten Hag stressed of his penchant for bringing in Dutch players. “First of all, it is club decisions, none of them is only my decision. It is always backed or even brought up through the scouting, recruitment, technical director, sporting director, it is a decision made by more than only one. But, some, you know also players and personalities and it has to fit also in the finance.”

De Ligt and Mazraoui arrived from Bayern Munich on Tuesday while Joshua Zirkzee, also formerly of Bayern, joined from Italian side Bologna last month. Centre back De Ligt captained Ajax as a teenager under Ten Hag before he left for Juventus in 2019. United’s former head of youth recruitment Derek Longley urged the club to sign De Ligt during his formative years but a move was vetoed.

The Netherlands international spent three years at Juve and two at Bayern. Having come to prominence during Ajax’s captivating run to the Champions League semi-finals in 2019, De Ligt has struggled to live up to the hype and he did not play a minute for the Netherlands at the European Championship in the summer.

De Ligt turned 25 on Monday and Ten Hag still believes he can fulfil his potential. “He has fantastic potential. But Matthjis turns 25 this week and he has almost 375 games for Ajax, Juventus and Bayern Munich under his belt. That is incredible.

“Now he is turning into his best years. He has great skills as a football player but also in his character, his personality. I am very pleased to have him here.”