Former Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has been linked with a “shock return” to Holland to take over Feyenoord after the Dutch side dismissed their manager on Monday.
Feyenoord are currently languished in 5th place in the Eredivisie, 12 points adrift of Ajax – who Ten Hag previously managed.
The club had appointed Brian Priske in the summer to replace Arne Slot, who took over from Jurgen Klopp at Anfield with Liverpool now comfortably atop the Premier League table.
However, the gap between Feyenoord and bitter rivals Ajax proved too much after a 2-1 defeat two weeks ago was followed by a 2-0 loss to PSV Eindhoven in the cup.
And despite winning 3-0 on Saturday against Sparta Rotterdam, Priske was given his marching orders on Monday.
Dutch publication AD (as relayed by the Manchester Evening News) revealed Ten Hag is one name in contention to take over at Feyenoord with the Dutch manager’s impressive record at Ajax still fresh, despite his ultimately unsuccessful move to England.
Ten Hag won a Carabao Cup and an FA Cup in back-to-back campaigns as Red Devils boss but was dismissed in his third season after the chaotic tactical issues which plagued his second year continued to surface.
INEOS, who had chosen to extend the 55-year-old’s contract by a twelve months after conducting a comprehensive end-of-season review over the summer, decided to pull the trigger with the team languished 13th in the Premier League.
Ruben Amorim was selected as Ten Hag’s replacement with the 39-year-old coach swapping Lisbon for Manchester in November, bringing with him his entire coaching staff from Sporting CP.
Interestingly, Rene Hake – a Dutch coach who joined Ten Hag’s team as an assistant manager in the summer but was shown the door at the same as his compatriot – is also named as a candidate for the vacant role at Feyenoord.
The report concedes it “remains uncertain” whether Ten Hag would “entertain” such an offer, given his connection with Ajax and the fact the transition from United to Feyenoord would be a considerable downgrade.
The 55-year-old had been linked with a switch to Borussia Dortmund after Nuri Sahin was sacked but the German side chose to appoint Nico Kovac instead, with Ten Hag believed to be waiting until the summer to pick his next career move.
Featured image Octavio Passos via Getty Images
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Darragh Fox
Darragh is a writer for The Peoples Person who spent three years as a history graduate slowly realising football was by far the most interesting thing to write about.
