Erik ten Hag has been sacked by Bayer Leverkusen after just three matches in charge.
He was appointed as Xabi Alonso’s successor in May after the Bundesliga-winning coach left for Real Madrid.
The former Manchester United manager was dismissed on Monday morning following Leverkusen’s 3-3 draw with Werder Bremen on Saturday. Leverkusen surrendered two late goals, including a 94th-minute equaliser, despite Niklas Stark’s second-half red card for Bremen.
Ten Hag’s only home match in charge was a 2-1 defeat to Hoffenheim on the opening weekend of the season. Jarell Quansah had scored an early opener for Leverkusen before the visitors turned it around. They beat Sonnenhof Grossaspach 4-0 in the first round of the DFB-Pokal.
“A parting of ways at this early stage of the season is painful, but we felt it was necessary,” Leverkusen’s chief executive, Fernando Carro, said in a statement. “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.”
Leverkusen’s managing director, Simon Rolfes said: “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.”
Ten Hag becomes the third former Manchester United manager to be sacked in the space of a week after Ole Gunnar Solskjær at Besiktas and José Mourinho at Fenerbahce.