Erik ten Hag ‘Keen’ on Premier League Return, Job Prospects Boosted

A glut of Man Utd linked figures are said to be under consideration.

Erik ten Hag has been out of job since August. / Christof Koepsel/Getty Images

Former Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag is interested in taking over at Wolverhampton Wanderers, reports state, with the Dutchman under consideration after Gary O’Neil opted against returning to his former club.

Wolves sacked Vitor Pereira on Sunday after the Midlands outfit slumped to a limp 3–0 loss against Fulham. The Portuguese boss collected just two points from the first 10 league games of the season, ensuring that his club remain the only team across England’s top seven tiers to still be pining after a win.

Pereira had only been handed a new three-year contract 45 days earlier—BBC Sport report the club’s hierarchy “did not want to make a change” coming into last weekend’s fixtures, but the nature of the Craven Cottage defeat ultimately proved to be one humiliation too many.

Ten Hag emerged as a surprise candidate to replace Pereira shortly after his sacking. However, O’Neil had been billed as the leading favourite to return to a club which dismissed him just 11 months ago. A wave of fan backlash greeted those reports, prompting numerous outlets to just as quickly claim that the English boss had withdrawn from the race.

Personal terms between O’Neil and Wolves had been agreed, per The Telegraph, before the club gave in to public opinion.

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Ten Hag Battling Man Utd Alumni for Wolves Job

Michael Carrick made 464 appearances for Manchester United. / Neal Simpson/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images

A separate report from ESPN states that Ten Hag is under consideration from Wolves’ hierarchy and the 55-year-old is interested in a return to the Premier League. He does, however, have reservations about taking a job mid-season.

Middlesbrough manager Rob Edwards is a younger candidate, as is former Manchester United midfielder and interim manager Michael Carrick. It’s reported that Wolves’ preference would be to hire a younger coach, and it remains to be seen whether Ten Hag will be taken forward in the process because of that.

Carrick is currently unattached after leaving Middlesbrough in the summer following a disappointing 10th-placed Championship finish. There had been high hopes for his managerial acumen after gatecrashing the top four in his debut season at the Riverside but it has been a case of diminishing returns since. The prevailing concern about Carrick is said to be an inability to adapt to in-game alterations.

Fellow United alum Ole Gunnar Solskjær was the ultimate game-changer during his playing career but is yet to quite replicate those heights from the dugout. The former Premier League runner-up is also a free agent following his dismissal from Beşiktaş in August.

Whichever candidate takes over at Molineux has an intriguing opening fixture, as Wolves travel to Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening.

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