Krishnan Sreekumar
Manchester United ‘very close’ to appointing Ajax Amsterdam manager Erik ten Hag as their next permanent manager
According to Sky Sport’s Angelo Mangiante on Twitter (h/t Express), Manchester United are very close to appointing Ajax Amsterdam boss Erik ten Hag as their new permanent manager ahead of the new season.
He could soon be the next person to take up the manager’s seat in the dugout at Old Trafford next term, replacing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as the permanent head coach of the English side. United are currently led by Ralf Rangnick, who has been appointed until the summer on an interim basis.
The German has been tasked with guiding the team to a top-four finish the season in order to qualify for the Champions League next campaign. At the moment, the Red Devils are struggling, sitting in seventh position in the Premier League table behind teams like Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, and West Ham United.
After finishing second in the league last time around, the English giants look to be in danger of missing out on a UCL spot with other teams from London threatening to finish above them. As things stand, the Manchester side may have to settle for a UEFA Conference League qualification spot.
ten Hag appointment very close
Next season may offer some promise and hope, however, as Mangiante confirmed that ten Hag is leading the race to become the new boss and is very close to joining. The 52-year-old is currently on course to lead his Ajax side to a hat-trick of league titles, all of which have been won under his tenure.
However, the Dutchman is expecting a final answer from the Old Trafford outfit as soon as possible to make a decision on his plans beyond the summer. The Red Devils would also be required to pay the Eredivisie champions a compensation fee to prise ten Hag away from them, although this is not thought to be an issue for the PL club.
Rangnick has been the manager of the Amsterdam-based side since 2017, before which he was the head coach at FC Utrecht.
After finishing yet another season without winning any silverware, ten Hag – if he were to be offered the job in the summer – would be tasked with breaking the club’s five-year trophy drought. Having won multiple honours in Holland, there will be high expectations from the manager once he takes over.
Apart from his work in the Eredivisie, the Ajax boss also won plaudits for leading a young and exciting team to the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2019, boasting of names like Frenkie de Jong, Donny van de Beek, Hakim Ziyech, and Matthijs de Ligt. Despite losing all of them in subsequent transfer windows, he has been able to rebuild and compete for titles every season.
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If he were to accept the vacancy at Old Trafford, he could be reunited with Donny van de Beek, who signed for the Red Devils in 2020 after impressing at Ajax. With the Dutch player expected to return to his parent club after leaving on loan to Everton due to a lack of minutes in Manchester, perhaps we could see the 24-year-old midfielder stay with us beyond the summer.
In such a situation, fans may expect ten Hag and van de Beek to combine once again and weave their magic to improve the club’s chances of winning trophies. They were hugely successful in Holland together, and their new challenge would be to recreate the fairytale in England from next term onwards.
