Leverkusen, last season's runners-up and champions the year prior, have started very poorly under Ten Hag who has led his side to 12th in the Bundesliga after a win and a loss to Hoffenheim and Werder Bremen.
For Ten Hag, who left United last October, the bar at Leverkusen was set impossibly high after the sale of world class talents such as Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong this summer. Now, as confirmed by the club, he has been let go.
“Bayer 04 Leverkusen have parted ways with head coach Erik ten Hag. This was decided by the shareholders' committee, the club’s supervisory body, on the recommendation of the management of Bayer 04. Training will be overseen by the current backroom staff on an interim basis.”
Simon Rolfes, managing director sport commented on what was a tough decision, stating that having the Dutchman in charge was not “feasible”.
“This decision was not an easy one for us. Nobody wanted to take this step. However, the past few weeks have shown that building a new and successful team with this setup is not feasible.
“We firmly believe in the quality of our team and will now do everything we can to take the next steps in our development with a new setup.”
Fernando Carro, CEO also spoke on the sacking and remains confident that the club’s targets can still be achieved.
“A parting of ways at this early stage of the season is painful, but we felt it was necessary. We remain committed to achieving our goals for the season – and to do that, we need the best possible conditions at all levels and across the entire first team.
“Now it's a matter of fully implementing and utilising these conditions again.”