The Dutchman has been announced as Xabi Alonso’s replacement at Bayer Leverkusen who has joined Real Madrid ahead of the new season. Ten Hag won the Carabao Cup and FA Cup during a spell of just over two years in charge at Old Trafford but was sacked and replace by new head coach Ruben Amorim who has struggled just as much as the 55-year-old.
Alonso led Bayer to the 2023-24 Bundesliga title in which his side were unbeaten and will be very hard to replace. However, Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rolfes praised Ten Hag and praised him for his work in previous years which has kept him in the interest of top European sides for some years.
"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."
Ten Hag is also looking forward to his new role and spoke to the club website about his ambition at the German side and how impressed he was by such quick negotiations.
"Bayer 04 are one of the best clubs in Germany and also among the top clubs in Europe. The club offers outstanding conditions, I've been very impressed with the discussions of the management," said the Dutchman before adding: "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."
Leverkusen finished second in the Bundesliga this season, 13 points behind champions Bayern Munich and will now lose defender Jeremie Frimpong and Florian Wirtz in the coming months in what will be Ten Hag’s first task in charge of the side who will desperately need quick replacements.