Manchester United confirm appointment of new manager

Manchester United have announced the appointment of Erik Ten Hag as the club’s new manager, taking over from Ralf Rangnick at the end of the season. 

Weeks of speculation has linked Ten Hag with the soon-to-be-vacant job at United, but the club officially announced the development on Thursday.

The Dutchman will leave his post as manager of Eredivisie club Ajax when the season ends, before taking over from Rangnick, who will then step back into a consultancy role.

“It is a great honour to be appointed manager of Manchester United and I am hugely excited by the challenge ahead,” he said. 

“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.”

Ten Hag will be hoping to get the best out of Donny van de Beek

Ten Hag will become United’s fifth permanent manager since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013.

During his time with Ajax, the 52-year-old has been hugely successful, guiding them to a league and cup double in both 2019 and 2021.

The Dutchman boasts an impressive win ratio of 74% from his 210 games in charge of the club, and Ajax have also averaged nearly three goals-per-game during that time.

The former FC Utrecht boss will be tasked with improving the Red Devils’ defence, which has failed to impress over the past few seasons and conceded four goals against rivals Liverpool on Tuesday.

Ten Hag could be the perfect candidate to do exactly that, though, as his Ajax side have conceded just 0.85 goals-per-game.

Next season he will go head-to-head with former colleague Pep Guardiola, who managed the Bayern Munich team at the same time that Ten Hag was in charge of the club’s second team.

He will also be looking to get the best out of Donny van de Beek, who has struggled to maintain a place in the United side and was loaned out to Everton in January.

The pair worked together at Ajax, and the midfielder had more than 60 combined goals and assists during that time.