{"id":31980,"date":"2025-06-11T13:58:32","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T12:58:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/?p=31980"},"modified":"2025-07-06T00:38:50","modified_gmt":"2025-07-05T23:38:50","slug":"ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job\/","title":{"rendered":"Ten Hag: Ajax \u2018Were Never an Option\u2019 After Taking Leverkusen Job"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Erik Ten Hag was officially unveiled as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flashscore.co.uk\/team\/leverkusen\/4jcj2zMd\/\">Bayer Leverkusen<\/a> \u00a0new manager on Monday.\u00a0 He quickly dismissed any speculation of a return to Ajax, saying the Dutch giants \u201cwere never an option.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI had very good conversations here,\u201d said Ten Hag, who returns to Germany after coaching Bayern Munich\u2019s reserves from 2013 to 2015. \u201cI already knew a lot about the club and the Bundesliga. I think it&#8217;s a nice project to build something with good players.<br>\n<br>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On choosing Leverkusen, he added: \u201cThe Premier League and Bundesliga have similarities and differences, that&#8217;s clear. German football and the Bundesliga mean a lot in world football&#8230;<br>\n<br> When people ask what football is, it is, as they say, a game of 11 against 11, and ultimately the Germans win.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Erik Ten Hag was officially unveiled as Bayer Leverkusen \u00a0new manager on Monday.\u00a0 He quickly dismissed any speculation of a return to Ajax, saying the Dutch giants \u201cwere never an option.\u201d \u201cI had very good conversations here,\u201d said Ten Hag, who returns to Germany after coaching Bayern Munich\u2019s reserves from 2013 to 2015. \u201cI already knew a lot about the club and the Bundesliga. I think it&#8217;s a nice project to build something with good players. \u201d On choosing Leverkusen, he added: \u201cThe Premier League and Bundesliga have similarities and differences, that&#8217;s clear. German football and the Bundesliga mean a lot in world football&#8230; When people ask what football is, it is, as they say, a game of 11 against 11, and ultimately the Germans win.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":17204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,159,169,531],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","category-football-news","category-news","category-news-2"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ten Hag: Ajax \u2018Were Never an Option\u2019 After Taking Leverkusen Job - Matchplug Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Erik Ten Hag was officially unveiled as Bayer Leverkusen \u00a0new manager on Monday.\u00a0 He quickly said the Dutch giants \u201cwere never an option.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ten Hag: Ajax \u2018Were Never an Option\u2019 After Taking Leverkusen Job - Matchplug Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Erik Ten Hag was officially unveiled as Bayer Leverkusen \u00a0new manager on Monday.\u00a0 He quickly said the Dutch giants \u201cwere never an option.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Matchplug Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-11T12:58:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-05T23:38:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/man-utd-coach-ten-hag-predicted-for-ajax-return.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jane Njoku\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jane Njoku\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jane Njoku\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/cd090b5c87b36c93f6ec8d0b5e8b32f6\"},\"headline\":\"Ten Hag: Ajax \u2018Were Never an Option\u2019 After Taking Leverkusen Job\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-11T12:58:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-05T23:38:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job\/\"},\"wordCount\":135,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/man-utd-coach-ten-hag-predicted-for-ajax-return.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Football\",\"Football News\",\"News\",\"news\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job\/\",\"name\":\"Ten Hag: Ajax \u2018Were Never an Option\u2019 After Taking Leverkusen Job - Matchplug Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/man-utd-coach-ten-hag-predicted-for-ajax-return.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-11T12:58:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-05T23:38:50+00:00\",\"description\":\"Erik Ten Hag was officially unveiled as Bayer Leverkusen \u00a0new manager on Monday.\u00a0 He quickly said the Dutch giants \u201cwere never an option.\u201d\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/man-utd-coach-ten-hag-predicted-for-ajax-return.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/man-utd-coach-ten-hag-predicted-for-ajax-return.png\",\"width\":700,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"ten hag predicted for ajax return\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ten Hag: Ajax \u2018Were Never an Option\u2019 After Taking Leverkusen Job\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Matchplug Blog\",\"description\":\"Matchplug is the best soccer prediction site connecting bettors with winning tips. We are spot on in our Soccer predictions, premier league predictions, Bet9ja prediction, matched betting and premier betting.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Matchplug Blog\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/cropped-mp_logo_2.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/cropped-mp_logo_2.png\",\"width\":389,\"height\":218,\"caption\":\"Matchplug Blog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/cd090b5c87b36c93f6ec8d0b5e8b32f6\",\"name\":\"Jane Njoku\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d52c1219bd3dbcf74203e1c9c5df50f1c4b00d9bf4e20af18533f2747c20ec9a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d52c1219bd3dbcf74203e1c9c5df50f1c4b00d9bf4e20af18533f2747c20ec9a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jane Njoku\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/author\/jane\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ten Hag: Ajax \u2018Were Never an Option\u2019 After Taking Leverkusen Job - Matchplug Blog","description":"Erik Ten Hag was officially unveiled as Bayer Leverkusen \u00a0new manager on Monday.\u00a0 He quickly said the Dutch giants \u201cwere never an option.\u201d","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ten Hag: Ajax \u2018Were Never an Option\u2019 After Taking Leverkusen Job - Matchplug Blog","og_description":"Erik Ten Hag was officially unveiled as Bayer Leverkusen \u00a0new manager on Monday.\u00a0 He quickly said the Dutch giants \u201cwere never an option.\u201d","og_url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job\/","og_site_name":"Matchplug Blog","article_published_time":"2025-06-11T12:58:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-07-05T23:38:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":700,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/man-utd-coach-ten-hag-predicted-for-ajax-return.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Jane Njoku","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jane Njoku","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job\/"},"author":{"name":"Jane Njoku","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/cd090b5c87b36c93f6ec8d0b5e8b32f6"},"headline":"Ten Hag: Ajax \u2018Were Never an Option\u2019 After Taking Leverkusen Job","datePublished":"2025-06-11T12:58:32+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-05T23:38:50+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job\/"},"wordCount":135,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/man-utd-coach-ten-hag-predicted-for-ajax-return.png","articleSection":["Football","Football News","News","news"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job\/","url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job\/","name":"Ten Hag: Ajax \u2018Were Never an Option\u2019 After Taking Leverkusen Job - Matchplug Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/man-utd-coach-ten-hag-predicted-for-ajax-return.png","datePublished":"2025-06-11T12:58:32+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-05T23:38:50+00:00","description":"Erik Ten Hag was officially unveiled as Bayer Leverkusen \u00a0new manager on Monday.\u00a0 He quickly said the Dutch giants \u201cwere never an option.\u201d","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/man-utd-coach-ten-hag-predicted-for-ajax-return.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/man-utd-coach-ten-hag-predicted-for-ajax-return.png","width":700,"height":400,"caption":"ten hag predicted for ajax return"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/ten-hag-ajax-were-never-an-option-after-taking-leverkusen-job\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ten Hag: Ajax \u2018Were Never an Option\u2019 After Taking Leverkusen Job"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/","name":"Matchplug Blog","description":"Matchplug is the best soccer prediction site connecting bettors with winning tips. We are spot on in our Soccer predictions, premier league predictions, Bet9ja prediction, matched betting and premier betting.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Matchplug Blog","url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/cropped-mp_logo_2.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/cropped-mp_logo_2.png","width":389,"height":218,"caption":"Matchplug Blog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/cd090b5c87b36c93f6ec8d0b5e8b32f6","name":"Jane Njoku","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d52c1219bd3dbcf74203e1c9c5df50f1c4b00d9bf4e20af18533f2747c20ec9a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d52c1219bd3dbcf74203e1c9c5df50f1c4b00d9bf4e20af18533f2747c20ec9a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jane Njoku"},"url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/author\/jane\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/man-utd-coach-ten-hag-predicted-for-ajax-return.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31980"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33024,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31980\/revisions\/33024"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}