LEVERKUSEN: Bayer Leverkusen has appointed former Manchester United coach Erik ten Hag as Xabi Alonso's replacement.

The Bundesliga club said Monday that the 55-year-old Ten Hag had signed a contract through 2027.

He inherits a team that finished second in the Bundesliga and reached the German Cup semi-final this season. Leverkusen won both competitions under Alonso the year before and became the first unbeaten Bundesliga champion ever. Alonso left to take over as Real Madrid coach.

Ten Hag is “an experienced coach with impressive sporting successes,” Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rolfes said in a statement.

It's Ten Hag's first job since he was dismissed as United coach in October 2024. The Dutch coach won two domestic cups in his two and a half years in charge but was fired after the club's worst start to a season, with four defeats in nine league games.

United's subsequent troubles under Ten Hag's successor Ruben Amorim helped restore its former coach's reputation. Ten Hag was United's fifth manager in nine years when he took over.

He previously succeeded in bringing the good times back to Ajax, leading the biggest team in the Netherlands to three Eredivisie titles and the Champions League semi-final in entertaining style in 2019.