Erik ten Hag’s successor, Alfred Schreuder, has been sacked by Ajax after just six months in charge.
Filling the now Manchester United manager’s boots was always going to be difficult, especially when so many players were sold from his winning squad before Schreuder’s first season began.
In addition to Lisandro Martinez and Antony, who both joined United, the club sold or saw the departure of Sebastian Haller, Ryan Gravenberch, Perr Schurrs, Nicolas Tagliafico, Andre Onana, Daley Blind and Danilo, among others.
At least seven of the regular starting XI left the club in the space of a few months.
Ajax are currently lying fifth in the Eredivisie and only managed to scrape a draw on Thursday against relegation contenders Volendam, which proved to be the last straw.
The Dutch club’s CEO, former United keeper Edwin van der Sar said “It is a painful decision, but also a necessary one. After a good start to the season, we then lost an unnecessary number of points. The game was also volatile.” (source: The Mirror).
Schreuder acted as Ten Hag’s assistant for 18 months before taking on the manager role at German club Hoffenheim, working as assistant manager at FC Barcelona and most recently, being manager of Club Brugge.
With Schreuder’s deputy, Matthias Kaltenbach also having been sacked, who will be put in charge for Ajax’s next game is as yet unknown.
Ten Hag is expected to be asked his view on events at a press conference to be held later today.
Ajax also crashed out of this season’s Champions League in a group dominated by Napoli and Liverpool.
They will play Union Berlin in the Europa League play-offs to try to continue their European adventure in that competition. In that regard they have a significantly easier draw than United, who have been paired with FC Barcelona.
However, if both clubs progress, they could meet each other in the tournament for the first time since the 2017 final, which United won 2-0.
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