Why Leverkusen have turned to Erik Ten Hag to replace Xabi Alonso

The former Ajax and Man Utd manager could be the perfect palate cleanser for the Bundesliga club after Alonso.

On Monday Bayer Leverkusen confirmed what many had suspected for quite some time. Following Xabi Alonso’s unveiling as the new Real Madrid manager over the course of the weekend, the Bundesliga side duly followed suit and confirmed that former Ajax and Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag would be replacing the Spaniard at the BayArena. And it’s safe to say that Leverkusen were careful with their wording in the press release. "With Erik ten Hag we have brought in an experienced coach with impressive success on the pitch. His six title wins at Ajax were exceptional," said Leverkusen sporting managing director Simon Rolfes, notably opting to avoid Ten Hag’s previous managerial stint. That, of course, was eventually addressed, with Rolfes noting the Dutch tactician's “success at Manchester United under difficult circumstances at times.”

Aptly done, perhaps. But Leverkusen will likely need more than a finely tuned press release to convince the rest of European football that Ten Hag is the right man to keep up the good work that Alonso has done over the course of the last three years. Or will they? Rather than seek out a direct successor to Alonso in terms of tactics and squad management, Leverkusen have instead decided to draw a clear line under the Spaniard’s tenure and will look to implement a hard reset this summer. As such, Ten Hag won’t be the man tasked with getting the best out of Alejandro Grimaldo, Granit Xhaka or even Florian Wirtz, but will instead be in charge of building the next squad that will come after them. And in many ways he may be the perfect man for the job.