Bayer Leverkusen have reached an agreement in principle to appoint former Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag as their head coach.
The Bundesliga club are now working on documentation as they seek to finalise Ten Hag’s appointment.
The Athletic reported earlier this month that Ten Hag, who had also been open to a return to the Premier League, was on Leverkusen’s shortlist to replace the outgoing Xabi Alonso.
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The 55-year-old Dutch coach has been out of football since leaving United in October, when the club were 14th in the Premier League after nine rounds of matches.
Former Ajax head coach Ten Hag previously worked in Germany as Bayern Munich II manager between 2013 and 2015, when Pep Guardiola was in charge of Bayern’s first team.
Ten Hag won a domestic trophy in each of his two full seasons at United, lifting the Carabao Cup in 2022-23 — ending the club’s six-year trophy drought — and the FA Cup the following season.
Despite securing a top-three finish and two domestic cup finals in his first season, 2023-24 saw a regression with United finishing eighth, their lowest league finish since 1990, and exiting the Champions League at the group stage.
Ten Hag was sacked by United in October after overseeing just four wins from 14 matches this season and replaced by Ruben Amorim.
Ten Hag previously managed Ajax for four and a half years before taking the United job in 2022. He led the Dutch club to the semi-finals of the 2018-19 Champions League — the first time they reached that stage of the competition since 1997 — beating Real Madrid and Juventus on the way, and won three Eredivisie titles.
Leverkusen won their first ever Bundesliga title under Alonso in 2023-24, a season in which they also won the DFB-Pokal and reached the Europa League final, losing to to Atalanta.
Alonso’s side finished this season trophyless, in second place and 13 points behind champions Bayern Munich.
Alonso has been identified as Real Madrid’s first choice to replace Carlo Ancelotti, who will become Brazil head coach next week.
Former central midfielder Alonso, 43, won La Liga and the Champions League during his spell in the Spanish capital as a player.
(Carl Recine/Getty Images)
