TA: Erik ten Hag is on Leverkusen shortlist to replace Xabi Alonso

Erik ten Hag is on Bayer Leverkusen’s shortlist to become their next head coach, but the former Manchester United manager is also open to a return to the Premier League.

Leverkusen are continuing the process to appoint a successor to Xabi Alonso, who last week announced he would be leaving at the end of the season, and Ten Hag, who has been out of management since he was sacked by United in October, is among the candidates.

Leverkusen are yet to make a decision on their preferred candidate, although there is an expectation at Como that their head coach Cesc Fabregas — who had been admired by Leverkusen — will remain at the Serie A club for 2025-26.

Former Ajax head coach Ten Hag previously worked in Germany between 2013 and 2015 as Bayern Munich II manager — when Pep Guardiola was in charge of Bayern’s first team — and favours a move to the Bundesliga or a return to England.

Ten Hag, 55, was dismissed with United 14th in the Premier League after winning just four of his side’s opening 14 matches in all competitions during 2024-25. Ruben Amorim was appointed his replacement.

Ten Hag had been retained as United manager at the end of the previous season following an end-of-year review, and the club triggered a one-year contract extension option in the summer.

In his first season in charge, he led United to a third-place Premier League finish and success in the Carabao Cup, ending the club’s six-year trophy drought.

United struggled domestically and in Europe during his second season, exiting the Champions League in the group stages and finishing eighth in the Premier League, the club’s lowest league finish since 1990. However, they beat Manchester City in the FA Cup final to end the season with silverware and qualify for the Europa League.

Ten Hag previously managed Ajax for four-and-a-half years before taking the United job in 2022. He led the Dutch club to the semi-finals of the 2018-19 Champions League — the first time they reached that stage of the competition since 1997 — beating Real Madrid and Juventus on the way, and won three Eredivisie titles.

Alonso won Leverkusen’s first ever Bundesliga title in 2023-24 in an unbeaten domestic campaign as Leverkusen also secured the DFB-Pokal and lost the Europa League final to Atalanta.

Leverkusen are second in the Bundesliga, 11 points behind champions Bayern Munich with one matchday remaining.

The former Real Madrid central midfielder, who won La Liga and the Champions League during his spell in the Spanish capital, had been identified as the club’s first choice to replace Carlo Ancelotti, who will become Brazil head coach, in the dugout this summer.

The Athletic have reported talks between people representing Alonso and Madrid have taken place this season with a possibility that the former Spain international takes charge at the Bernabeu this summer.

Additional reporting from Sebastian Stafford-Bloor and James Horncastle.

(John Walton/PA Images via Getty Images)