New Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag has admitted accepting the job was a “difficult” decision after the club confirmed the appointment on Thursday.
Ajax boss ten Hag, 52, met with United bosses last month to talk about becoming their new manager and has now taken the role on a permanent basis, signing a contract until June 2025 with an option of a further year.
Ten Hag’s most eye-catching managerial achievement to date was guiding the Dutch giants into the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2019 when they were seconds away from the final before Lucas Moura’s winner for Tottenham in the sixth minute of added time. He had been at the helm of the Dutch giants since December 2017 and his decision to leave the club would not have been an easy one. Ajax stunned Real Madrid and Juventus on that memorable European run – their first knockout tie victories in the Champions League since 1997.
Ten Hag told United’s website: “It is a great honour to be appointed manager of Manchester United and I am hugely excited by the challenge ahead. I know the history of this great club and the passion of the fans, and I am absolutely determined to develop a team capable of delivering the success they deserve.
“It will be difficult to leave Ajax after these incredible years, and I can assure our fans of my complete commitment and focus on bringing this season to a successful conclusion before I move to Manchester United.”
Ten Hag was appointed Ajax boss in December 2017 and is on course to guide the club to their third league title in his four full seasons at the helm, having ended their five-year wait for an Eredivisie crown in 2019. The coach also has won two KNVB Cups at the club and reached the Champions League Round of 16 this campaign – being edged out by Benfica after having won all six of their group stage games.
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He is walking away from a stable environment that has yielded no shortage of domestic success and titles into a club who have not won the league title in nine years and have not won any trophy at all since 2017. United do not have the same off-field structure that ten Hag was afforded in Amsterdam.
His task at Old Trafford is a huge one with multiple players out of contract, many others who need to be moved on but whose wages will make it difficult to do so and the need to incorporate multiple new signings this summer.
Ten Hag will succeed interim coach Ralf Rangnick in the Old Trafford hot seat and will become the club’s fifth permanent manager since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013, following on from David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
