"It's a decision made by more than only one but, yeah, some you know, the players and personalities, and also it has to fit also in the finance."

Mazraoui and De Ligt - who both hail from the Dutch town of Leiderdorp - joined Man Utd on Tuesday and go straight into the squad taking on Fulham in Friday's Premier League opener.

The latter is a long-term target of the Old Trafford outfit and arrived from Bayern in a £38.5million deal that could rise to £42.7m.

"He has fantastic potential," Ten Hag said. "But Matthijs turned 25 this week and he has almost 375 games for Ajax, Juventus and Bayern Munich under the belt. That is incredible.

"Now he is turning into his best years. He has great skills as a footballer but also as a real character, a real personality. I am very pleased to have him here."

De Ligt could quickly be involved given fellow centre-back acquisition Leny Yoro is injured, while right-back Mazraoui's ability to play left-back will be important with Malacia and Luke Shaw out.