Manchester United ‘face competition from RB Leipzig to appoint Erik ten Hag as their next manager’
The clamour to hire Erik ten Hag as a manager this summer has grown with RB Leipzig the latest club to reportedly be in for his services.
The in-demand Ajax manager has been identified as the likely candidate to take over the reins at Manchester United come the end of the season.
However, according to the Telegraph, RB Leipzig have now stated their interest in the 52-year-old to take over at their club.
Erik ten Hag is reportedly wanted by Leipzig this summer who are ‘interested’ in the Ajax boss
Ten Hag looks set to leave Ajax this summer with Manchester United leading the race for him
A move for Ten Hag would be a surprise at Leipzig, considering Domenico Tedesco’s fine work
While Ten Hag is in talks with United over succeeding Ralf Rangnick this summer, it is added that Leipzig may look to pounce if there are any delays with those proceedings.
A move for the Dutchman would be a surprise at Leipzig considering the impressive job Domenico Tedesco is doing at the Bundesliga outfit since Jesse Marsch, now at Leeds, was sacked in December. Leipzig are up to fourth in the table – and into the Champions League spots – despite a poor start to the campaign.
United will hope RB Leipzig’s reported interest is a rouse in Ten Hag’s camp to gain more control because, as reported by Sportsmail last week, the Red Devils and the Dutchman are close to striking a deal.
United are closing in on a deal to make Ajax’s Erik ten Hag their new manager.
Talks have been held with the Dutch club to establish the terms for Ten Hag’s release as United take a significant step towards appointing the 52-year-old.
Those discussions took place at the end of last week and indicate that United are now ready to press ahead with bringing in Ten Hag, whose Ajax contract expires at the end of next season.
The in-demand 52-year-old has just over a year left on his current contract at Dutch giants Ajax
The compensation payment for Ten Hag would be just over £1.6million – significantly less than Paris Saint-Germain’s demand to release the other main candidate for the role, Mauricio Pochettino.
Sportsmail exclusively revealed Ten Hag was a leading contender for the job in November, before breaking the news of his interview for the post last month.
United’s process to choose Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s permanent successor has been described as ‘advanced’, although club sources stressed on Wednesday night that they are yet to reach a definitive decision on the new boss.
They do have a call to make on the timing of their announcement, given Ten Hag’s job at Ajax and his workload until the end of the season.
Ajax are four points clear of PSV Eindhoven at the top of the Dutch league and United want to be respectful. Unveiling Ten Hag before the Eredivisie title race has been concluded could be seen as disruptive.
Ten Hag is set to beat Paris Saint-Germain boss Mauricio Pochettino (left) to the United job
Equally, Ten Hag may view persistent rumours about his future as a distraction to his players and instead prefer a quick announcement.
Sevilla manager Julen Lopetegui is now seen as a distant outsider for the United post, while there were clear pitfalls with appointing Luis Enrique, given the former Barcelona boss is taking charge of Spain at the World Cup in Qatar later this year.
Pochettino, who like Ten Hag has 12 months remaining on his contract, has long had admirers at Old Trafford but the Paris Saint-Germain job has proved to be a tough assignment.
The Ligue 1 leaders were embarrassingly dumped out of the Champions League at the first knockout stage last month.
United realise there is a need to reshape their squad, with question marks over the futures of many first-team players.
Ten Hag was not the only candidate to raise the issue of recruitment with United’s hierarchy in the interview process and there is a recognition the new boss will require significant backing in the transfer market.
Ten Hag is now set to take over from interim boss Ralf Rangnick at Old Trafford this summer