Ajax eye Kop boss AND Erik
AJAX have drawn up a managerial shortlist that includes both Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag AND Liverpool assistant boss Pep Lijnders.
The Dutch club’s new chief executive Alex Kroes has been tasked with finding a replacement for stand-in coach John van ’t Schip at the end of a season which saw the Amsterdam club stranded at the bottom of the Eredivisie table after a shocking start to the campaign.
Lijnders is regarded as the more realistic option, given that he will leave Liverpool when Jurgen Klopp quits Anfield at the end of the season.
But sources close to Ajax have confirmed that Kroes has not ruled out offering Ten Hag an escape route out of Old Trafford.
United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe is set to make a decision on Ten Hag’s future at the end of the season.
Ten Hag guided Ajax to three successive Dutch titles, but, despite a promising first season at United, he has been unable to build on the progress.
Ratcliffe’s INEOS Group are already looking at possible replacements.
Lijnders, 41, established himself as a capable No.2 under Klopp, but wants another crack at a senior job after a disastrous fivemonth stint as coach of Dutch club NEC Nijmegen in 2018.
He also has a strong relationship with former Kop captain Jordan Henderson, who is two months into a two-year contract at Ajax.
A year ago, Ajax were on the brink of making former Liverpool technical director Julian Ward their new director of football before he decided to withdraw from the process.
It has been mooted that Lijnders could form a management team with former Ajax boss Frank de Boer, who would provide insight into the club’s structure and academy set-up.