Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag may be staring a bad omen in the face as Ajax chase down his assistant, Mitchell van der Gaag. The loss of a key figure in Jose Mourinho’s inner circle preceded his rapid downfall at Old Trafford, and fans will be desperate to see Ten Hag buck the trend.
Results plummeted when Rui Faria left his post as United’s assistant manager. The Portuguese had spent almost two decades working alongside Mourinho at Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid before they tried their luck with the Red Devils.
On a quest to take a top job elsewhere, Faria embarked on a year in charge of Qatari side Al-Duhail after leaving United in May 2018. Just seven months after his departure, Mourinho had been given his marching orders by senior figures in the Old Trafford boardroom.
Without Faria by his side, the two-time Champions League-winning manager crumbled, with a sequence of dismal results leading up to his dismissal.
Seven wins in 17 Premier League matches left United a full 19 points off the top of the table, and club chiefs were effectively left with no choice but to part ways with Mourinho. The 60-year-old has found his feet again at Roma, with Faria absent for an underwhelming 18-month spell at Tottenham.
Although their partnership is comparatively brief, Ten Hag will be keen to avoid losing his own right-hand man, with De Telegraaf reporting that Ajax are lining up Van der Gaag to become their new head coach.
Scrutiny surrounding the decision to axe David de Gea for the misfiring Andre Onana, uncertainty over the club’s ownership situation, and a public spat with Jadon Sancho have all made the United manager’s job more difficult as he attempts to steer the club away from an up-and-down run of results.
Ajax are seemingly in need of fresh ideas after their torrid start to the campaign under Maurice Steijn, but Ten Hag allowing Van der Gaag to fill the position could expose him to the risk of a downfall just like Mourinho’s.
