The prospect of a Dutch manager with a in close proximity to-maniacal target on tactics getting charge of one particular the giants of English soccer has a particular common ring to it.
Two many years after Erik 10 Hag left Ajax for Manchester United, Arne Slot seems to be set to comply with his aged foe to the north west of England.
Slot has emerged as a sturdy contender for the Anfield gig and the unenviable process of replacing Jurgen Klopp, who will depart just after 9 years in cost at the conclude of the period.
Certainly, on Wednesday morning it emerged talks have now begun between Liverpool and Feyenoord with the compensation payment established at £8.5million.
When ten Hag’s days at Old Trafford might be numbered adhering to a dismal 2nd year in demand, the parallels involving him and Slot are apparent and not just in terms of appears to be and nationality.
Feyenoord supervisor Arne Slot is the person predicted to realize success Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool
The Dutchman shares a great deal of parallels with his countryman Erik ten Hag, the ex-Ajax boss
Klopp’s nine-yr spell at Liverpool will occur to a close at the end of the season
Ten Hag was a stable if unspectacular centre-back. The 54-calendar year-old played for Twente in 3 separate spells, De Graafschap, RKC Waalwijk and Utrecht above a job that spanned 13 seasons.
Similarly, Slot was a good plenty of midfielder, albeit a single whose complex abilities ended up hampered by a lack of speed.
The 45-calendar year-old expended most of his occupation actively playing as No 10, generating about 460 league appearances for FC Zwolle, NAC Breda, Sparta Rotterdam and PEC Zwolle.
Their respective constraints as gamers arguably helped 10 Hag and Slot turn into the professionals they are, as they recognized the value of teams doing the job as a person cohesive unit.
Like 10 Hag, Slot is ruthlessly ambitious and a handle freak who requires complete regulate at a club.
As Cristiano Ronaldo, Jadon Sancho and to a lesser extent Marcus Rashford have uncovered out, players cross 10 Hag at their peril.
Slot’s and ten Hag’s managerial spells in the Netherlands have also adopted a identical path.
Slot led Feyenoord to only their 2nd Eredivisie title in 24 decades final year
He followed it up this season by successful the Dutch Cup very last 7 days versus NEC Nijmegen
The 45-year-aged is ruthlessly ambitious and described as command freak by those people shut to him
When the latter took demand of Ajax in December 2017, the Amsterdammers experienced not received the league in three several years – an eternity by their requirements.
By the time he still left for United, he’d lifted the Eredivisie title three occasions in 4 seasons and received two Dutch Cups together the way.
Slot, meanwhile, steered Feyenoord to their very first league title in 6 many years and only their second in 24 yrs final season.
The relentless pace set by PSV Eindhoven – who have received 26 of their 30 game titles so considerably – has denied Feyenoord a second consecutive triumph this phrase, but they secured the Dutch Cup last 7 days.
Equally ten Hag and Slot masterminded thrilling European runs in cost of Ajax and Feyenoord.
In 2019, the Amsterdammers memorably set Juventus and Actual Madrid to the sword en route to achieving the Champions League semi-final for the initially time because 1997.
Only Lucas Moura’s gorgeous 2nd-50 % trick denied Ajax a location in the remaining, as Tottenham progressed right after successful 3-2 at the Johan Cruyff Arena.
Two decades in the past, Slot piloted Feyenoord to the Europa Convention League final, exactly where they dropped to Roma 1-.
Final period, Jose Mourinho yet again put paid to Slot’s European goals as Roma conquer Feyenoord on penalties to get to the quarter-finals of Europa League.
Immediately after the initial leg, Slot made it distinct his plan of studying was seeing Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, fairly than Mourinho’s soccer.
‘He generally needs to play attacking soccer, he normally wishes possession, he generally wishes a great set-up from the goalkeeper to discover totally free house and totally free players in the midfield,’ Martijn Krabbendam, a journalist for Voetbal Global who has protected Slot’s Feyenoord, advised The Athletic.
‘It’s no key he is insane about Guardiola — he’s an instance.’
Slot’s remark was telling as ten Hag described the two a long time he labored alongside Guardiola at Bayern Munich – exactly where he took cost of the next team – as ‘like winning the lottery’.
10 Hag was a studious and diligent man anyway, but functioning alongside Guardiola gave more vindication to his solutions.
‘He labored with Pep at Bayern Munich and took in his philosophy too,’ Steve McLaren told the Daily Telegraph two decades ago.
‘They termed him “Mini Pep” out there.’
Whilst they have equally been inspired by Guardiola, ten Hag and Slot have sought to condition their possess tactical tactic.
The Feyenoord boss’s is wedded to a 4-3-3 development, whose intensity of urgent and significant power attacking bears a lot of resemblances to Klopp’s ‘heavy metal’ football.
Ten Hag won the Eredivisie three occasions in 4 seasons all through his spell at Ajax
Like Slot, the 54-calendar year-outdated is a disciplinarian who is near-maniacal when it arrives to tactics
Feyenoord scored 28 ambitions in 11 games in their Europa League campaign in 2022, failing to come across the web in just three matches – the closing currently being a single of them.
Last period, they scored 81 goals in 34 games as they stormed to the Eredivisie title – the 3rd-greatest tally guiding PSV Eindhoven and Ajax.
Ten Hag, meanwhile, vowed to make United the ‘best changeover workforce in the world’ this season.
‘We want to surprise,’ he said past summertime.
‘We want to play dynamic [football], we want to play with velocity and we want to perform aggressive [football].’
Slot will work assiduously with his gamers in training to deliver a substantial-power brand name of soccer
The Dutchman has built no secret he considers Pep Guardiola an inspiration
10 Hag explained functioning along with Guardiola (left) at Bayern Munich for two seasons as ‘winning the lottery’
These claims have fallen spectacularly flat – United have the worst attacking document of any of the best-10 in the Leading League this expression with only 51 aims scored – but his record at Ajax suggests his faith was justified.
Ajax scored 119 objectives as they won a initially league title under 10 Hag in 2019, plundering in 102 and 98 objectives respectively as they lifted the trophy again in 2021 and 2022.
Significantly, the only conceded 32, 23 and 19 plans over individuals 3 campaigns, though Feyenoord authorized 30 past time period.
Ten Hag’s debut year in England seemed the perfect cornerstone for him to make upon, as he led United again into the Champions League and won the club’s very first trophy in 6 seasons, although reaching one more closing alongside the way.
But even with his amazing document in Holland and a close to-ideal start off to daily life in the Leading League, this time it has all unravelled at a rate of knots for the previous Ajax boss.
Liverpool will hope the similarities between him and Slot never increase that significantly.