Online Reporter
ERIK TEN HAG has been SACKED by Bayer Leverkusen after just two league games.
The former Manchester United boss was only announced by the club in May following a seven-month absence from management, but has been sacked just 62 DAYS after he officially started in the role.
The Dutchman’s first competitive game in charge saw him win 4-0 against fourth-tier SG Sonnenhof Großaspach in the first round of the DFB-Pokal.
However, in the Bundesliga, Leverkusen then lost 2-1 to Hoffenheim before drawing 3-3 with ten-man Werder Bremen.
And club chiefs have taken the radical approach by pulling the plug on the 55-year-old, despite him having a deal which ran to 2027.
A short statement on social media said: “Bayer 04 Leverkusen has parted ways with head coach Erik ten Hag with immediate effect.
“Training will be taken over by the assistant coaching staff for the time being.”
Explaining the decision further Simon Rolfes, Leverkusen’s managing director, said: “This decision was not an easy one for us. Nobody wanted to take this step. CEO Fernando Carro added: “A parting of ways at this early stage of the season is painful, but we felt it was necessary.
“We remain committed to achieving our goals for the season − and to do that, we need the best possible conditions at all levels and across the entire first team. Now it’s a matter of fully implementing and utilising these conditions again.”
“However, the past few weeks have shown that building a new and successful team with this setup is not feasible. We firmly believe in the quality of our team and will now do everything we can to take the next steps in our development with a new setup.”
Ten Hag replaced Xabi Alonso at Bayer after the Spaniard guided them to an unbeaten Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal double in 2023/24, before his exit to Real Madrid prior to the summer’s Club World Cup following a second-place finish in last season’s Bundesliga.
Following the Bremen game with his team in 12th place, Ten Hag had said his players were not ready for the season.
He said: “The players aren’t ready.
“We have a new team and some of the players aren’t at all fit enough to play. The team didn’t function at all during the final stage of the game.
“That’s just the way it is. They need to bring more intensity and get fitter in order to meet my standards.”
His exit makes him the THIRD ex-Man Utd manager to be sacked in the past week.
Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer were both sacked by Fenerbahce and Besiktas respectively after seeing their clubs crash out at the Champions League qualification round.
Ten Hag was sacked less than a year after he was relieved of his duties by United in October when the team had slipped to 14th place in league.
His final full season at Old Trafford had yielded an FA Cup victory but an eighth-place finish in the Premier League − Sun.
