Ajax Amsterdam have banned English media from attending their club’s press conferences which are headlined by manager Erik ten Hag.
Erik ten Hag has reportedly been interviewed for the Manchester United job and has also given a list of demands which the club must meet if he is to leave Ajax at the end of the season to take charge of the Old Trafford dugout next season.
Man United will also have to pay Ajax £1.7 million for the Dutchman’s contract, which runs out in 2024.
All roads lead to Old Trafford for the former FC Utrecht manager but he has constantly downplayed every report and rebuffed every question asked of him concerning the links to the Premier League giants.
Ajax have now gone one step further to ban all English press from attending club press conferences which ten Hag will be headlining for the foreseeable future, to avoid him being questioned about Manchester United.
Ajax chiefs are keen for their manager’s focus to remain on winning a third league title with the club since taking charge of them in 2017.
Speaking on the ban, Sky Sports News reporter Gary Cotterill said: “As Ten Hag was preparing his team to face Sparta Rotterdam, the media team were busily rejecting the applications from the English media to attend the post-match news conference. There will be no radio, no newspapers, no Sky Sports News.
“They don’t want him asked, in English, about Manchester United. His English isn’t that great, either.
“Ajax say he needs to concentrate on winning another [Eredivisie] title. It’s by no means a given – they’re only four points ahead [of PSV] with six games to play.
“It is a bit worrying that he is not doing any [English] media duties tomorrow because maybe he doesn’t want to answer any difficult questions.
“But if he is to become the Manchester United manager then he is going to have to get used to answering tricky questions twice, sometimes even three times, a week.
“That could be something for Manchester United fans to worry about.”
Meanwhile, ten Hag is reportedly considering his future backroom staff at Manchester United, and his two main targets are currently unattainable.
It has been reported that the 52-year-old wished to take former United striker Robin van Persie and Ruud van Nistelrooy with him to Old Trafford when he assumes his new role in the summer. However, both former strikers are now in important roles in two Eredivisie clubs.
Van Nistelrooy was recently named as the next manager of PSV Eindhoven and will take over the role from current boss Roger Schmidt this summer.
Van Persie, on the other hand, doesn’t want to leave his current position at Feyenoord where he is the assistant manager to Arne Slot.
