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Rob DawsonCorrespondent
Manchester United have appointed Erik ten Hag as their new manager.
ESPN reported in early April that United were set to finalise the appointment of Ten Hag and the Dutchman has agreed a three-year deal to take over at Old Trafford, with the option of another year.
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– Ogden: How United settled on Ten Hag
– O’Hanlon: Can Ten Hag stop United rot?
Ten Hag becomes United’s fifth permanent manager since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, following David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Former players Ryan Giggs and Michael Carrick have also held caretaker positions during that time.
Solskjaer was sacked in November and replaced with interim boss Ralf Rangnick, who is set to take up a consultancy role.
Ten Hag will stay in charge of Ajax until the end of the season before taking over at United. Ajax end their campaign with a trip to Vitesse on May 15.
The 52-year-old has been at Ajax since December 2017, winning the league and cup double in 2019 and 2021, and leading them to the Champions League semifinals in 2019 after knocking out Real Madrid and Juventus along the way.
He has also had spells at Utrecht and Bayern Munich II, where he worked under Pep Guardiola.
Ten Hag, who has beaten Paris Saint-Germain boss Mauricio Pochettino to land the job at United, played more than 300 league games as a defender in the Netherlands during a playing career that spanned 13 years.
The Dutch coach is the latest man tasked with turning around one of the world’s leading clubs following a steep decline after Ferguson’s retirement nine years ago. Moyes lasted 11 months before his successor Van Gaal managed two seasons, winning the FA Cup before he was replaced. Mourinho was sacked during his third season at the club, having won the League Cup and Europa League in 2017 — United’s last taste of silverware.
Solskjaer initially joined on a caretaker basis in 2018 but was handed the job full time in March 2019 following a run of 14 wins from his first 19 in charge. However, after losing last season’s Europa League final to Villarreal on penalties, Solskjaer oversaw a sharp downturn in results this term and was sacked in November.
Rangnick, appointed on an interim basis, has struggled to improve results and United are in a scrap for the fourth remaining Champions League spot for next season.
Ten Hag’s arrival will coincide with what is likely to be a summer of change at Old Trafford, with two key scouts leaving the club and Rangnick claiming as many as 10 players are needed to kickstart a rebuild for a side who will mark 10 years since their last title win in 2023.