Erik ten Hag has visited Borussia Dortmund frequently since being sacked as Manchester United manager – but the Bundesliga giants have no current plans to replace Nuri Sahin, reports in Germany say.
Ten Hag was ousted from his post at Old Trafford in October after a late 2-1 defeat to West Ham United left the Red Devils 14th in the Premier League table with four defeats from their opening nine games – up They still hold that spot almost three months later.
The Dutchman remains unemployed and has not yet been linked with bigger jobs, so news of his visits to Dortmund will certainly pique viewers’ interest.
Sky Germany Note that Ten Hag was present at Dortmund’s recent 3-2 defeat against Bayer Leverkusen, where he was accompanied by marketing director Carsten Cramer and even had a conversation with technical director Sven Mislintat, formerly of Arsenal.
The former Ajax coach is said to have been a frequent guest at Signal Iduna Park in recent months as he enjoys a close relationship with former Germany international Matthias Sammer, who serves as the club’s senior advisor.
In fact, Sammer once hired Ten Hag as FC Bayern Munich’s reserve coach and wanted to hire the 54-year-old as Germany’s U21 coach when he worked for the national team association.
However, there is currently no indication that Ten Hag would be able to replace current coach Nuri Sahin, although the former midfielder is under pressure to help Dortmund move up from their current ninth place in the Bundesliga table.
Under the management of Eden Terzic, Dortmund reached the Champions League final last season, but decided to leave the club twelve days later. Sahin has been unable to continue that progress and his job will come under further scrutiny if the gap to qualify for next year’s Champions League becomes too great – Dortmund are currently five points behind fourth-placed Leipzig.