Former Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has been sacked just three games into his new role at Bayer Leverkusen.
Ten Hag began his tenure at Leverkusen with a 4-0 win over fourth-tier side Sonnenhof Grossaspach in the DFB Pokal.
However, the Dutchman suffered a 2-1 defeat by Hoffenheim in his first Bundesliga game in charge before surrendering a 3-1 lead to draw 3-3 with ten-man Werder Bremen on Saturday.
And Leverkusen have now taken the drastic decision to pull the plug on Ten Hag’s time in charge, just 62 days after he replaced Xabi Alonso in the hot seat.
Announcing the decision, the club said: ‘Bayer 04 has parted ways with head coach Erik ten Hag with immediate effect. The assistant coaching staff will temporarily take over training duties.’
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Managing director Simon Rolfes added: ‘This decision was not an easy one for us. Nobody wanted to take this step.
‘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 arrived with the unenviable task of replacing Alonso, who left to join Real Madrid after guiding Leverkusen to their first-ever league tutle in 2024.
And the Dutchman’s task was made that bit harder over the summer, as he saw several key players depart for pastures new.
Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong departed for Liverpool, while Granit Xhaka and Amine Adli joined them in the Premier League at Sunderland and Bournemouth respectively.
And while Jarell Quansah arrived from Liverpool, fellow centre-back Jonathan Tah departed for Bayern Munich while Piero Hincapie is still expected to leave to join Arsenal on deadline day.
Media reports in Germany hinted at friction between the board and Ten Hag over their summer dealings, with the Dutchman bemoaning the state of his squad after Saturday’s draw.
‘The players aren’t ready. We have a new team and some of the players aren’t at all fit enough to play,’ he told Sky.
‘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.’
Ten Hag becomes the third former United manager to be sacked in the space of a week after Ole Gunnar Solskjær at Besiktas and José Mourinho at Fenerbahce.
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