Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen have confirmed the departure of head coach, Erik ten Hag.
The former Manchester United manager was in charge of Bayer for only two games before the club’s management decided they had seen enough.
“Bayer 04 Leverkusen have parted ways with head coach Erik ten Hag. This was decided by the shareholders’ committee, the club’s supervisory body, on the recommendation of the management of Bayer 04. Training will be overseen by the current backroom staff on an interim basis,” reads the club’s statement.
Simon Rolfes, managing director of sport, added, “This decision was not an easy one for us. Nobody wanted to take this step. However, the past few weeks have shown that building a new and successful team with this setup is not feasible. We firmly believe in the quality of our team and will now do everything we can to take the next steps in our development with a new setup.”
Club CEO Fernando Carro concluded that the decision was “painful” but necessary.
“A parting of ways at this early stage of the season is painful, but we felt it was necessary. We remain committed to achieving our goals for the season – and to do that, we need the best possible conditions at all levels and across the entire first team. Now it’s a matter of fully implementing and utilising these conditions again.”
Bayer are expected to approach former Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez to fill the vacancy.
