Erik ten Hag does not rule out extending his contract with Ajax again next year. The 51-year-old coach signed a contract that runs until mid-2023 in April of this calendar year. At the same time, Ten Hag thinks that he now has sufficient competencies to take on a new challenge in his coaching career, although he says he is ‘not on the hunt’.
“The fact that I am here and have extended my contract means that I am happy here. It could just be that I do that again next year,” says Ten Hag in conversation with various media, including the General Newspaper. “Have I gotten better? I hope so. This is an experience course. A trainer also has to improve every day. I also use the bar that I set for my players. I constantly look in the mirror: what went well and what not? What needs to be improved?”
His many years of experience has given Ten Hag a ‘better overview of the whole’: he is better able to deal with the many aspects of the profession with which he has to deal. “I know even better how the hares run and as a manager I can guide processes better and better. I feel recognition when I am linked to the European top, but I am at Ajax and I am not concretely involved with other clubs,” he indicates.
“Whether I could do it now, others will have to judge,” continues Ten Hag, after which he adds with a laugh: “I can already see the headlines: ‘Ten Hag ready for the next step’. I think I am ready for that. Let me put it this way: I would like to take up that challenge, but I am not chasing it. If the step never comes, I will not say that my coaching career has failed. But I do think that I have sufficient competences by now to meet that challenge.”