Manchester United’s board of directors believes it has found the club’s future manager.
According to the publication, after analyzing all of the options, the United board has decided that Ajax manager Erik ten Hag is the right man to turn around the club’s problems.
Manchester United has stepped up its search for a permanent successor to interim manager Ralf Rangnick across Europe.
The club’s leadership had been researching the lives and careers of a number of European managers in preparation for appointing a new manager as soon as the season ended.
Ten Hag, who is now the manager of Ajax, has long been one of United’s top candidates, with Mauricio Pochettino of PSG being his closest rival.
Following the penalties against the Blues’ departing owner, Roman Abramovich, Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has surfaced as a possible candidate.
The Red Devils’ board believes Ten Hag represents everything the club is looking for in a manager.
The club’s board of directors, as well as interim manager Ralf Rangnick, are huge fans of Ten Hag’s style of play.
The club conducted comprehensive background investigations on all of their potential hires, and the Dutchman was chosen ahead of Pochettino.
Rangnick, who is now serving as interim manager, will leave the club at the end of the season to pursue a consulting post.
He was also involved in the process that led to Ten Hag being named as his most likely successor.
Who is Erik Ten Hag
Erik ten Hag born 2 February 1970 is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. Ten Hag has played for FC Twente, De Graafschap, RKC Waalwijk, and FC Utrecht as a centre-back. He spent three seasons with FC Twente, where he won the KNVB Cup in 2000–01.
In the 1990–91 season, Ten Hag won the Eerste Divisie with De Graafschap, ten years before winning the cup with FC Twente. After the completion of the 2001–02 Eredivisie season, he retired from active playing at the age of 32 while playing for FC Twente.
Marc Overmars, the club’s proprietor, hired Ten Hag as manager of Go Ahead Eagles in the Eerste Divisie in 2012. He guided the Go Ahead Eagles to their first promotion in 17 years during his lone season there.
He was the coach of Bayern Munich II from 6 June 2013 until 2015, when Heiko Vogel took over. On May 22, 2015, his final match as head coach of Bayern Munich II was a 1–0 loss against Nürnberg II.
Ten Hag became the Sporting Director and head coach of FC Utrecht in summer 2015, where he led the club to fifth place during his first season.
In the 2016–17 season, he improved FC Utrecht’s final position to fourth, booking a place in the Europa League qualifiers.
With a 2–1 triumph over Vitesse in the final on April 18, 2021, ten Hag led Ajax to record-extending 20th KNVB Cup. Ten Hag’s contract at Ajax was extended two weeks later, through the conclusion of the 2022–23 season.
When Ajax defeated FC Utrecht 3–0 away on match day 19 on 16 January 2022, ten Hag became the league’s fastest manager to achieve 100 wins, doing so in only 128 games.