Erik Ten Hag wants to leave Ajax if he’s offered the Man Utd job and he has already nominated the backroom staff he wants, according to a Dutch journalist.
Ten Hag has been manager of the Eredivisie giants since December 2017 and has won two league titles and two Dutch Cups at the helm.
The former FC Utrecht boss is believed to be one of the frontrunners for the permanent job at Man Utd with Paris Saint-Germain’s Mauricio Pochettino and Chelsea’s Thomas Tuchel also under consideration.
Interim boss Ralf Rangnick – who took over from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer earlier in the season after the Norwegian was sacked – will move into a consultancy role at the end of the campaign, paving the way for a new manager in the dugout.
And now De Telegraaf journalist Mike Verweij (via Sport Witness) claims that Ten Hag is likely to go to Man Utd this summer.
“Whether Ten Hag will stay? No, I don’t think so. I thought that the Ajax leadership would like to keep him to his contract, because Marc Overmars has already left,” Verweij said.
“However, at the press conference he indicated that he was not aware in the choice for [appoint] Klaas-Jan Huntelaar [to the technical staff]. Then you can draw the conclusion Ten Hag is not very decisive in next season’s policy, otherwise you have a say in who you work with.”
It is unlikely that the whole Ajax backroom staff would move with Ten Hag to Old Trafford but it’s claimed that Mitchell van der Gaag has already been “nominated” to go with him if Man Utd come calling.
“I think Van der Sar will respect that agreement. If a club like Manchester United comes, I think that as a Dutch trainer you want to go that way,” Verweij added.
“I don’t think so [Ten Hag’s entire backroom staff will leave]. I heard that [assistant] Mitchell van der Gaag is nominated to go.”
When asked yesterday about links to Man Utd, Ten Hag told reporters: “I am now working with Ajax. That’s what I’m fully concentrating on now.
“But as a manager I am already working on our team for the future. I am also mainly focusing on the present. The road in the Champions League is closed after our defeat against Benfica. But there are still two roads completely open.”