Erik ten Hag: Who is on his coaching staff?

Erik ten Hag is expected to make the move to Manchester United this summer, becoming the latest manager to be tasked with turning around a club that has been in decline for the most part of ten years.

Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer have all been struck by the curse of Old Trafford, and the interim appointment of Ralf Rangnick as Solskjaer's successor has done little to rescue a poor campaign.

But with Ten Hag's prospective appointment comes a new dawn and the chance to start afresh - or so United fans will hope. The Dutchman has impressed in the Netherlands with Ajax, with he and his coaching team helping the club dominate in the Eredivisie. There have also been some fun times in the Champions League, too.

Here's Ten Hag's current coaching staff at Ajax.


Michael Reiziger - assistant manager

Reiziger is a former Netherlands international | ANP/GettyImages

Michael Reiziger is one of three assistant managers currently working with Ten Hag at Ajax.

He enjoyed an excellent playing career, starting with Ajax before a brief stint with AC Milan. He was a regular at Barcelona between 1997 and 2004, winning two La Liga titles, a Copa del Rey and a UEFA Super Cup in Catalonia. He also made 72 international appearances for the Netherlands, competing at three European Championships and the 1998 World Cup.

Reiziger previously managed Jong Ajax - the club's reserve side - for two years and briefly stepped in as interim manager of the first team in 2017 following the sacking of Marcel Keizer.


Winston Bogarde - assistant manager

Bogarde had a controversial spell at Chelsea | Soccrates Images/GettyImages

The second of the three assistant managers is Winston Bogarde.

A full back during his playing days, Bogarde won a couple of Eredivisie titles in the 1990s and was later part of the same Barcelona side that Reiziger featured for at Camp Nou. He rounded off his playing career with a controversial four-year spell at Chelsea, getting into a dispute with the club's officials and only playing 11 games during his time at Stamford Bridge.

He also represented the Netherlands at international level, playing in one World Cup and one European Championship.

Bogarde returned to Ajax in 2017 as an assistant to Reiziger for the club's youth team.


Mitchell van der Gaag - assistant manager

Van der Gaag could join Ten Hag at United | ANP/GettyImages

Mitchell van der Gaag is Ten Hag's third and final current assistant manager. He began his career in PSV Eindhoven's academy and spent the majority of his playing days in the Netherlands. He also featured for Motherwell in Scotland for two seasons before winding down in Portugal and Saudi Arabia and then heading into coaching.

He has been an assistant to Ten Hag since 2021, though his affiliation with the club began when he was appointed as manager of the Jong side in 2019. He has previously been in charge of PSV, Excelsior and NAC.


Anton Scheutjens - goalkeeping coach

Scheutjens with Andre Onana | ANP/GettyImages

Anton Scheutjens is Ten Hag's goalkeeping coach at Ajax. He has previously worked with Dick Advocaat and Phillip Cocu at PSV and joined Ajax in 2020.

He also helped develop some of the Netherlands' young goalkeepers in a role with KNVB.

As a player, Scheutjens turned out for Go Ahead Eagles and Roda JC Kerkrade.


Alessandro Schoenmaker - fitness coach

Schoenmaker works on fitness with Ajax | ANP/GettyImages

Working on fitness with the Ajax squad is Alessandro Schoenmaker. He's previously been employed at Newcastle, Inter, Crystal Palace, Anderlecht and Derby.

If he were to join Ten Hag at Old Trafford, Schoenmaker would be tasked with whipping a rather bloated United squad into shape.


Max Reckers - chief analyst

Reckers previously worked at Manchester United | Barrington Coombs/GettyImages

Max Reckers is Ajax's current chief analyst. Among his former roles is a similar position he held at Manchester United, when Louis van Gaal was in charge.

Of Reckers, Van Gaal once said: "I can't forget my computer guru. It's unbelievable because he's not only my computer guru, he's like my son. But he's not called Van Gaal, his name is Max Reckers and he is a performance analyst."


Richard Witschge - individual coach

Witschge previously played for Ajax | Soccrates Images/GettyImages

Richard Witschge is an individual coach at Ajax, having spent the majority of his playing career in Amsterdam.

He spent five years with his boyhood club's senior side before joining Barcelona and later Bordeaux. He spent a brief spell on loan at Blackburn when they won the Premier League, playing just one game. Witschge then returned to Ajax for another seven years before winding down with some lower level clubs.

He returned as a coach in 2012 and has served Ten Hag, Frank de Boer, Peter Bosz and Marcel Keizer in that time.


Heini Otto - coordination coach

Heini Otto has spent almost 28 years at Ajax as a trainer for the Dutch giants. Before that, he played for them, making his only international appearance for the Netherlands while at the club.

He later spent time with Twente and Middlesbrough but retired from playing in 1992, becoming a youth coach at ADO Den Haag, the head coach of HFC Haarlem and later back at Ajax, again working with young players. With Ajax, Otto has filled various roles, from assistant coach with the first team to an ambassador of the different social projects the club



Source : 90min