Manchester United head coach Erik ten Hag has said that he is "very aligned" with Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his team, with a new era at the club officially beginning.

Ratcliffe's arrival as minority shareholder of the 20-time English champions has now been confirmed, and the British billionaire will take over the football department at Old Trafford.

At a press conference earlier this week, Ratcliffe spoke on a number of topics, with the owner and founder of INEOS outlining his plans for the club moving forward.

There remains speculation surrounding Ten Hag's future as head coach, with the club expected to sit down with the Dutchman at the end of the campaign to discuss his position.

However, Ten Hag is confident that all of the senior figures at the club are now "very aligned", with 'the same ambitions' being shared.

"It is not from his press conference. We speak a lot and I have had many conversations with him and Dave Brailsford about this club and about the team and structures," the Man United head coach told reporters during his press conference on Friday.

"We are very aligned and I am very behind their ambitions. I think it totally fits with the ambitions I have and with the ones I had when I came in. We are in that project and for me I am now 18-19 months in and I see we are going in the right direction.

"Yes, we have had setbacks in the second season, but you can see the team coming. You see the squad progressing and developing. We need to keep going with that process, work hard on the training pitch and work hard during games.

"Of course it is very important to have the players fit but also to construct a squad which is robust. I'm sure we will be very strong and will be even stronger when we add to this squad even more quality.

"That feeling [is clear] when we have had so many talks, we are very aligned. We have the same ambition and we are very aligned in the process.

"I discussed previously we always have to improve and we always have to do better. We have to think that better structures can help us for the future, we have to do this.

"This is also clear with our competitors because they never sleep, they are always improving. So you always have to think about improvements.

"Last year we were third in the league and we had two finals, so if we can improve, then we are not too far away. In the last few games you have seen what this team is capable of, especially the potential, it is very good in this team."

Man United have won their last five matches in all competitions and will go in search of a sixth straight success when they welcome Fulham to Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon. body check tags ::