- Simon Stone
- BBC Sport
Erik ten Hag won the Eredivisie twice with Ajax
Ajax coach Erik Ten Hag is close to taking over the technical leadership of Manchester United.
Manchester United say they have not reached an agreement with Ten Hag yet, but sources in the Netherlands indicate that there is an initial agreement.
The 52-year-old Dutch coach will replace Ralf Ranik, who was appointed interim technical director in November after the sacking of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
The current head coach of Paris Saint-Germain and ex-Tottenham, Mauricio Pochettino, was the other main candidate to take over at Manchester United.
It is not expected that the appointment of Ten Hag as technical director of Manchester United will be announced before the final match of the Dutch Cup against PSV Eindhoven on Sunday.
Ajax leads the Eredivisie league table, four points behind PSV Eindhoven, and is seeking to win the Eredivisie title for the third time led by Ten Hag.
Ajax was eliminated from the Champions League from the round of 16 this season after losing to Benfica.
Appointment of Ten Hag will bring a sense of certainty
There will be an atmosphere of relief at Manchester United when Ten Hag is officially appointed to head the team’s technical leadership, and it is expected that this will be under a three-year contract with an option to extend for an additional year. The appointment of Ten Hag will create a sense of certainty at Manchester United, which has fallen alarmingly this season, while Ranik faces a growing number of problems.
And amid many indications of defections in the team, it seems now unlikely that Manchester United will succeed in reserving one of the guarantor positions to participate in the Champions League next season, after a series of poor results during which it achieved a single victory in seven matches in all competitions, in the worst Series results since 2019.
This summer is expected to be turbulent at Old Trafford, with many big-name players either having their contracts expired, such as Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard, or facing an uncertain future, such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcus Rashford.
There is a feeling that the way Ten Hag is run is more appropriate to the foundations laid by Manchester United, which include the appointment of John Murtaugh as director of football.
Ten Hag will become the fifth permanent manager to coach Manchester United since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.