Ajax technical director Gerry Hamstra has revealed the club are still hopeful that Manchester United managerial target Erik Ten Hag will remain at the club.
Ten Hag is expected to be announced as he next permanent manager at United in the coming days after reportedly agreeing terms earlier this week.
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Ajax play in the Dutch Cup final this weekend against PSV Eindhoven and it is thought that an announcement could come shortly after the fixture.
However, technical director Hamstra has admitted there is still hope among the club’s hierarchy that Ten Hag will remain with the Eredivisie champions.
Hamstra told ESPN (quotes via Metro): “We hope he stays, but there are now only two scenarios. Our job is to stick to the facts and he’s not left yet.
“He is focused on the present. Only Erik can determine his future. He is old enough and wise enough for that.
“We really hope he stays, and if he does not stay we have to be ready for the second scenario.”
Meanwhile, former Liverpool midfielder Graeme Souness has warned Ten Hag that he is walking into ‘an absolute disaster’ at Old Trafford.
Speaking in his column in The Times (quotes via Metro), the former Liverpool midfielder said: “Ten Hag is walking into an absolute disaster. On the pitch, it has been a car crash of a club in the decade since [Sir Alex Ferguson] left.
“That’s down to consistently terrible football decisions. Whoever made them has not been a football person.
“Not one big-name signing since Fergie left has been an unqualified success. Bruno Fernandes comes closest, but he’s had one good season and one indifferent one.
“To be a top player he has to cut out the petulance he shows towards his team-mates.
“Critics often focus on Harry Maguire among United’s centre backs but in Raphael Varane, I don’t see the same player he was five years ago, bringing me back to what the great Jock Stein said: “Never judge a player on memory.”
“Real Madrid tend not to let top players leave, a good example being Mesut Ozil at Arsenal.”
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