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On Monday, May 26, Erik ten Hag got confirmed as the new manager of Bayer Leverkusen, which will be his first managerial role since getting sacked by Manchester United last October. The 55-year-old has signed a two-year contract to work with the first-team of Bayer Leverkusen after the departure of their all-conquering manager Xabi Alonso at the end of the season to Real Madrid in the same role.
Erik ten Hag came into the limelight in the managerial capacity during his time at Ajax, when he secured them three Eredivisie titles in four seasons before he joined Manchester United in the summer of 2022. For the Red Devils, he managed to win the FA Cup and League Cup in his first two seasons, but when they were in 14th place in the Premier League last fall, he was dismissed from the job in favour of Ruben Amorim.
Erik ten Hag had been rumored to either rejoin his former club Ajax or manage Bayern Leverkusen
Since then, the Dutchman had been rumored to either rejoin his former club Ajax or make his way to Germany to manage Bayern Leverkusen, and now, the latter has been signed and sealed. In his statement about the newly appointed manager, Bayer Leverkusen Sporting Director Simon Rolfes was quoted as saying, “With Erik ten Hag, we have brought in an experienced coach with impressive success on the pitch.”
“With three league titles and two domestic cup wins, he and Ajax dominated Dutch football from 2018 to 2022 And Erik demonstrated his quality as a coach with the ensuing success at Manchester United under difficult circumstances at times,” he added. The enormity of the job is quite big for Ten Hag at Leverkusen after Alonso secured them a league and cup double just a couple of seasons ago.
In his first reaction to joining Bayer Leverkusen, Erik ten Hag said, “I've come to Leverkusen to continue with the ambition shown in recent years. It's an attractive challenge to set up something together in this period of change and develop an ambitious team.”
