Mitchell van der Gaag will be Erik ten Hag’s assistant at Manchester United. The Telegraph write that the Red Devils have agreed to Ten Hag’s wish to take his current Ajax assistant to England. Ten Hag has been in talks with Manchester United for some time on a multi-year contract and will soon be presented as the new manager.
The Daily Mirror reported last week that Ten Hag would take Van der Gaag to Manchester United as an assistant. Steve McClaren was also named as a candidate for the so-called No. 2 to be at Old Trafford. According to The Telegraph Although Ten Hag spoke to McClaren, the former trainer of the English national team, FC Twente and Newcastle United, among others, has had no contact with the club management of Manchester United.
Because Ten Hag has no experience in England, an effort is made to include someone with experience at Manchester United in his staff. Robin van Persie has been spoken to, but the former attacker is said to have doubts about returning to England due to his family life. Son Shaqueel currently plays in the youth academy of Feyenoord, while daughter Dina is a great talent in equestrian sport and Van Persie takes the lives of his children into account. He is currently head coach of Feyenoord Under 16 together with Brian Pinas and also regularly appears on the first team training pitch while he is in the process of obtaining his trainer diplomas.
Manchester United want to make an addition to the staff of Ten Hag, of which Van der Gaag will in any case be part of. The two are already working together at Ajax, where Van der Gaag was moved to the position of assistant coach at the first team last summer and still has a contract until mid-2023. Fifty-year-old Van der Gaag has been working in Amsterdam since the summer of 2019, where he initially trained Jong Ajax. He previously worked as a head coach at Marítimo, Belenenses, Ermis Aradippou, FC Eindhoven, Excelsior and NAC Breda.
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