Eric Ten Hag has officially inked a deal to become Manchester United’s new manager for the next 3 years. Ten Hag is currently managing soccer club Ajax.
Erik Ten Hag Named New Man-U Manager
Erik ten Hag has officially been named Manchester United’s new Manager.
The new coach, who hails from the Netherlands and is 52 years of age, has reportedly inked a three-year deal with the club – and with the option to new for an additional year.
Ten Hag will exit his current role at Ajax at the end of the season in lieu of his new role as Manager of Man-U. He’ll be joined at Old Trafford by his second-in-command, Mitchell van der Gaag.
According to ten Hag, being the newly appointed manager of the club is an immense honour and speaks of a hugely exciting time ahead. He said he’s well aware of the immeasurable passion of the fans, not to mention the incredible history of the club, and that he’s absolutely determined to develop a team capable of being successful.
No Easy Exit
Ten Hag also commented on his time at Ajax and said that it will be a difficult challenge to leave the club behind after so many years of incredible success. He said he wanted to give his full assurance to Ajax fans of his ongoing commitment to the club, and to ensuring a successful close of season before his big move.
Weighing in also had been Manchester United Director of Football, John Murtough. He said ten Hag had over the course of the past four years shown himself to be one of the most successful and dynamic coaches in all of Europe. He praised ten Hag for his commitment to younger players, his attacking style of football, and his reputation as a coach above many others.
Murtough also said that during the conversations leading up to the appointment, ten Hag had managed to appoint the powers that be with his desire and long-term vision to re-instate Man-U as a championship winning side. He said with the help of ten Hag’s incredible drive and commitment, the English football side will be in a position to achieve exactly that.
He also wished ten Hag all the best as he focuses on turning into reality a wildly successful end to his term at Ajax.
There’s A Mountain To Scale
Ever since the sacking of previous manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in November last year, Ralf Rangnick has mostly struggled to see the team to any sort of success or even just progress on the pitch.
This means Ten Hag now faces a rebuilding job of epic proportions.
According to Murtough and technical director Darren Fletcher, they had been greatly impressed with ten Hag’s spot-on understanding of the various problems facing the club right now. He had reportedly been especially critical of Man-U’s recruitment ad scouting policy following the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013.
Ten Hag will now be faced with the enormous challenge of securing an end to a trophy drought that has lasted all of five years. He’ll undoubtedly have to make urgent and immediate calls regarding which players to retain and which to sell, and that could be as much of a gamble as playing online roulette.
According to ten Hag, his immediate focus is on helping his current team to focus on qualifying directly for the Champions League.
