Tottenham dealt blow as Erik Ten Hag signs new Ajax contract

According to Mirror, Tottenham have received a blow in their pursuit for Erik ten Hag with him signing a new contract at Ajax. The Ajax manager was one of the prime candidates to take over at Spurs but not that appears slim with the Dutch club extending his stay.

Tottenham are on the hunt for a new first-team manager following the sacking of Jose Mourinho last week. The Portuguese lasted seventeen months at the club and while he did help get the best out of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min, the decline in results in the second half of the season meant that the axe was always going to fall.

Having gotten rid of Mourinho, Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy appointed ex-midfielder Ryan Mason as manager on an interim basis until the end of the season while the hunt for a new manager goes on. A lot of names have been thrown around to replace Mourinho at Tottenham, with AFC Ajax boss Erik ten Hag among the contenders.

However, the club has had a couple of setbacks as Julian Nagelsmann is set to take over at Bayern Munich while Brendan Rodgers has ruled himself out from contention (h/t Daily Mail). Another target, Jesse Marsch, is also set to snub Tottenham in favour of RB Leipzig. That left Ajax’s Erik ten Hag as a strong contender and one of the few names for the Tottenham manager job (h/t Daily Star).

The 51-year-old has been with AFC Ajax since 2017 and has built a fine, young team that plays enterprising, attacking football – something that Tottenham will be well aware of having come up against his team in the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League semi-final.

As luck would have it, now it has been reported that he has agreed on a contract extension that will keep him at the club till 2023. His previous deal was set to end in 2022. This comes as a body blow for us as he was one of the few names that were still available.

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Nonetheless, Spurs fans can still keep some hope as Fabrizio Romano claimed that Ten Hag has only extended his deal, not refused Spurs. Nowadays, contract extensions really mean little apart from raising the value. Hence, there is still a faint glimmer of hope that he can be persuaded to sign for us.