Ten Hag took over from Ralf Rangnick at the conclusion of the 2021/22 season having already managed Ajax, FC Utrecht, FC Bayern 2, Go Ahead Eagles and been the assistant manager at PSV Eindhoven and FC Twente.

His stint at Ajax from 2017 to 2022 earned him the recognition that attracted the attention of the Manchester United board.

On April 21, 2022, he was confirmed as the fifth permananent manager at Old Trafford since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013.

At Ajax, his playing style had two iterations; in 2018/19 he played an adapted 4-3-3 formation but when they lost to Tottenham in the Champions League semi-finals it was broken up.

He then used a variant of the same formation that had been used before at the club and reaped more success.

His playing career was largely spent in the Netherlands too at clubs like FC Twente and De Graafschap.

Ten Hag's professional playing career lasted from 1989 to 2002.

It started at FC Twente until 1990 when he moved to De Graafschap where he stayed for two years before he returned to FC Twente.

It also included spells at RKC Waalwijk and Utrecht. In a cyclical manner, his finished at Twente. He played primarily as a centre back and won the Eerste Divisie with De Graafschap and the KNVB Cup with Twente in his final season and year of playing.

He retired at the relatively early age of 32, at the end of the 2002/03 season, and stepped into manager role at Twente U17s.

Before Ten Hag became a manager, he learned as a coach and developed his skills.

His first job as a manager came at a place of familiarity, FC Twente, and he led their Under-17 and Under-19s before he was made assistant manager of the senior team in 2006.

He landed his first senior role at Go Ahead Eagles in 2012, a club he led back to the Eredivisie after a 17-year absence.

However, he left Go Ahead Eagles to go to Munich and work at Bayern Munich 2. This coincided with Pep Guardiola being the manager of the first team.

It was not until 2015 that he returned to Dutch football with Utrecht, who he took into the Europa League.

Despite this, it was at Ajax where he made his name as the manager that nearly reached the UEFA Champions League final but throughout their run, dazzled and entertained with players such as Dusan Tadic, Frankie de Jong, Donny van de Beek and Matthijs de Ligt.

Their dismantling of Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu was a particular highlight alongside their win over a Juventus team that contained Cristiano Ronaldo.

His first trophy with the Dutch club came in 2019 when he won the KNVB Cup by beating Willem II in the final. They also claimed the Eredivisie in the same season too.

The squad that reached the semi-finals was, with crushing inevitability, picked apart but the newest team won another KNVB Cup last year by beating Vitesse in the final.

In January of 2022, he broke a record by becoming the quickest manager to 100 wins, doing so in 128 matches.

Ten Hag will arrive at Manchester United in the knowledge that the club has faltered and floundered over recent years, both on and off the pitch, epitomized by the signing of tired players, board mistrust and consistent failings in the Premier League and Europe too.

He needs to rediscover the soul and heart of Manchester United through wise recruitment and showing the fans that there is a care and desire for this rot to be reversed.

Ten Hag's influences include Pep Guardiola, a man he worked with at Bayern Munich and with whom he will be enemies of in Manchester.

Also, the work of Johan Cruyff who coined the term 'total football' is also an influence of Ten Hag.

Erik Ten Hag's wife is called Bianca and they have a boy and two girls. They still reside in Oldenzaal in Twente.

Erik Ten Hag's net worth was reportedly around $4 million in 2022.