Manchester United has confirmed manager Erik ten Hag has “left his role” at the club after a poor start to the new season.
The Dutchman took charge of the English Premier League giant in April 2022 and won two trophies during his time at the club: the Carabao Cup in 2023 and the FA Cup in 2024.
But his tenure has also been punctuated by a number of chastening defeats and performances over the last two seasons have heaped pressure on the manager.
United was beaten 2-1 by West Ham on Sunday, leaving the club 14th in the league.
“We are grateful to Erik for everything he has done during his time with us and wish him well for the future,” the club added in its statement Monday.
Former Red Devils star Ruud van Nistelrooy, who was brought in to be ten Hag’s assistant this season, will take over as interim manager until a “permanent head coach is recruited.”
Manchester United has undergone a revamp behind the scenes since British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS purchased 25% of the club in December last year.
Despite the team failing to impress for large periods last season, the club’s new hierarchy appeared to back ten Hag, despite the team finishing eighth in the Premier League.
After a brilliant win against local rival Manchester City in the FA Cup final last season, the club opted to extend the 54-year-old’s contract to 2026.
But results and performances stagnated again this season, despite the club spending a fortune on new players: €214.5 million (almost $232.2 million) just this offseason, according to Transfermarkt.
Ten Hag is now the fifth permanent manager to lose his job since legendary boss Alex Ferguson stepped down in 2013, with the club still struggling to find its former glory.
What happens next?
Analysis by CNN Sport’s Aleks Klosok
The autopsy of ten Hag’s reign at Manchester United is at once a messy and clean dissection; the very definition of soccer’s Jekyll and Hyde.
On the one hand, trying to understand the Dutchman’s tenure was like tasting the most intriguing yet mind-boggling cocktail.
Let’s call it the ‘Manchester Mule’ – equal parts bewilderment and brilliance, a shot of surprise, a dash of dalliance and always with a twist of the unknown.
Ten Hag can quite rightly point to winning two trophies during his time in charge at Old Trafford, more than the six Chelsea managers – caretaker and permanent – who’ve come and gone during his time.
And yet, for some, silverware is the minimum currency and requirement for any manager in charge in the post-Ferguson era.
A tilt at the top four and challenging in European competitions is a pre-requisite for what should be delivered.
Whether or not you believe United has been or is worthy of challenging the elite in England and Europe given the power shift in the soccer landscape is up to you, but the statistics don’t lie – ten Hag’s United was never at that level.
And yes, the unexpected was sometimes out of his control. A litany of injuries and the sale of part of the club to new co-owner INEOS, leading to a root-and-branch change in the makeup of the club’s structure.
Recruitment flaws
Barring goalkeeper André Onana, who’s starting to bloom into the commanding, game-winning goalkeeper that United has craved for so long, the club’s transfer policy has, for all intents and purposes, been an unmitigated failure.
Consciously or unconsciously, bringing in players who were prominent under ten Hag during his Ajax spell – Lisandro Martínez, Antony, Matthijs de Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui and the aforementioned Onana – has made little to no effect.
Like Oasis, it’s the reunion that arguably wasn’t needed or wanted.
Time after time, United has overpaid or appeared late on the accelerator to get deals done.
Maybe time will prove Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Højlund to be the strikers that United has craved, or teenager Leny Yoro to be that imposing center-back to marshal United’s defense for the next few years.
Could youngsters Kobbie Mainoo, Amad Diallo and Alejandro Garnacho be the makings of ‘Next Gen’ Red Devils midfield?
Ifs, buts and maybes. Yet, rightly or wrongly, in the age of frenzied social media and demands for instantaneous results, time is a precious commodity in the game.
Identity complex
Looking at the Premier League class of 2024, one could identify a playing style for 18 of the 20 teams in division.
The two anomalies – Julen Lopetegui at West Ham United, who’s still in the infancy of his reign, and ten Hag’s United.
Ten Hag built his reputation at Ajax on tactical nous and clarity. He was clear that that brand of football wasn’t going to be transposed to the playing surface at Old Trafford.
Yet after almost three seasons, United’s identity under the Dutch manager has remained a Rubik’s cube to solve.
Manchester United teams of the past were renowned for playing with pace, power, patience and precision.
Of late, the current team can only demonstrate slow, statuesque and stifling soccer.
Patterns of play have been largely indiscernible, and there’s little cohesion between the organs of defense, midfield and attack.
Moments of individual brilliance have masked old weaknesses, which have been continuously exposed.
The stats don’t lie: last season was the worst ever finish in the Premier League era and, since his appointment in 2022, no Premier League club has conceded three or more goals in a match more times in all competitions than United.
Future roadmap
Ratcliffe’s INEOS came into the club on a wave of goodwill following his 25% purchase of the club in December.
The remit was to deliver success for the men’s, women’s and Academy teams even if the 75% owned-Glazer Family continues to manage the balance sheet.
Behind the scenes, a new soccer structure that had been elusive since the days of Ferguson is now in place to make that a possibility.
Their public courting of alternatives to ten Hag prior to United’s victory in last year’s FA Cup final was, at the time, seen as a misstep.
The pursuit ultimately came to nothing and resulted in offering the Dutchman a one-year extension. It turned out to be little more than a pause on proceedings.
Now, though, the onus will be on them to deliver a plan for the future with their own person in charge.
In the short-term, Ruud van Nistelrooy will spearhead the revival, but the long-term replacement for ten Hag remains to be seen.
In short: there is no obvious candidate.
For INEOS – and United as a whole – perhaps the bigger question is both practical and almost existentially Nietzsche-ian: Who are we? What do we want to be?
United’s new CEO Omar Berrada has already part answered that question by laying out a three-year plan that, in his eyes, would culminate in the Red Devils lifting the Premier League trophy again in 2028 to coincide with the club’s 150th anniversary.
This is a club that has in recent years experienced wild peaks and troughs that have sated the appetites of pundits, influencers and column writers who’ve thrived off United being in crisis.
Perhaps now is the time to end that cycle, lay down a blueprint for success and return United to something of its former self.