Inside Erik ten Hag and Pep Guardiola’s friendship as links with Man Utd persist

Manchester United target Erik ten Hag took his style of management from his mentor and friend, Man City manager Pep Guardiola.

Ten Hag has been placed on United's list of potential Ole Gunnar Solskjaer replacements thanks to the fantastic job he has done with Ajax since 2017.

The 51-year-old has transformed the Dutch club from a state of turmoil into Champions League and Eredivisie contenders.

And he credits a lot of that to what Guardiola taught him after the Spanish boss had taken him under his wing at Bayern Munich.

Ten Hag was brought in as the German club's reserve team manager by Guardiola upon his arrival in 2013.

Speaking in 2019, he said: "I learned a lot from Guardiola.

"His philosophy is sensational, what he did in Barcelona, Bayern and now with Manchester City, that attacking and attractive style sees him win a lot.

"It’s this structure that I’ve tried to implement with Ajax."

Ten Hag has done exactly that and since those revelations has won five trophies.

Should Ten Hag be United's number one target? Let us know in the comments section.

That haul includes two league titles and two Dutch Cups.

But it was the Champions League run in the 2018/19 season which was arguably the greatest achievement of his career so far.

His youthful Ajax team featuring the likes of Donny van de Beek and Matthijs de Ligt stormed past Real Madrid and Juventus in shocking fashion.

Only a remarkable Tottenham comeback in the semi-final second leg prevented them from reaching a showdown with Liverpool.

Ten Hag has labelled Guardiola as the best coach in the world, and in 2020 told the Daily Mail: "Guardiola had great players at Barcelona, like Andreas Iniesta, Lionel Messi, Xavi and others.

"But it takes a lot of quality from a coach to make top players play in a great way as a team.

"Everyone has to contribute. The team comes first and not the individual. Even Messi was more of a team player under Guardiola. He has never been as brilliant again as he was under Pep."

Source: Read Full Article