Erik ten Hag reportedly agreed to a contract with Manchester United as their next permanent manager. It was reported in the Manchester Evening News that a deal with the Dutchman was ‘basically done’.
Paris St-Germain’s manager Mauricio Pochettino had been one of the other leading candidates to take over from Ralf Rangnick.
The current manager of Ajax has been linked to United for a couple of months, yet despite this, the 52-year-old refused to answer any questions about the deal while he was still with Ajax.
Negotiations of the deal continue as United close in on finding a permanent successor to Ole Gunnar Solskjær, he is expected to sign a three-year contract and was granted his demand of having the final say on player transfers.
Embed from Getty ImagesAlthough United have not officially confirmed his appointment it is expected that there will be talks between him and United over whether he can bring his assistant Mitchell van der Gaag.
Who is Erik ten Hag?
Ten Hag spent 13 years on the pitch as a central defender in Dutch leagues and has been coaching since 2012 after a 10-year retirement as a player. He played for four clubs and ended his career with FC Twente in 2002.
After retiring from FC Twente he stayed with them to earn his coaching status. Whilst he was there he managed the U17s and 19s before earning his place on the senior team as assistant manager under Fred Rutten and Steve McClaren.
His first senior managerial role was in the second division with the Go Ahead Eagles for one season, soon leaving for a job with Bayern Munich’s reserve squad under Pep Guardiola where he spent two seasons.
Ten Hag left Germany to return to the Netherlands where he was hired as manager and sporting director for FC Utrecht. He finally joined Ajax in 2017 where he went on to win multiple titles.
How many trophies has Ten Hag won?
His first trophy was for Bayern Munich’s reserve team (Bayern Munich II) in the Regionalliga Bayern in 2014. After this every trophy he won was for Ajax, starting in 2019 with the KNVB cup where Ajax won 4-0 against Willem II in the cup final.
In 2019 Ajax following the success of winning the KNVB cup final a few weeks later, they went on to win the Eredivisie title after a tough battle in the final weeks of the league with long time leaders – PSV Eindhoven. They went on to win the Eredivisie again in 2021 wherein one game during the season they won 13-nil against VVV Venlo, with five goals from Ajax forward Lassina Traoré
In 2019 Ajax also won the Johan Cruyff Shield. Much like the Eredivisie title, under ten Hag Ajax went on to win the KNVB cup again in 2021.
What do the fans have to say about Ten Hag’s appointment
In the coming days, United are set to announce that they have agreed to a deal with ten Hag once the terms of his €2m release clause with Ajax have finished.
What do you think?