Last week news emerged that Bayer Leverkusen had made the decision to sack Erik ten Hag after only two moths in post.
The former Manchester United manager was appointed as Xabi Alonso’s successor on the 1st July 2025, however, on the 1st September he was gone, with the German giants looking for a new boss.
Reports emerged later on last week, explaining why the Bundesliga side made their decision, with a whole host of reasons behind the firing.
Erik ten Hag reportedly failed to get on with anyone at Leverkusen, including the staff he signed into his team, pushed to sign players from his own agency rather than finding players for the club’s wider strategy.
The Dutchman also caused confusion in training with players left questioning why certain drills or exercises were being done, and overall created an extremely cold atmosphere at the club, leaving players unclear of the expectations of them in games.
As such, Bayer Leverkusen agreed to sack the former United boss, paying him £5.2 million in compensation for the redundancy.
However, the German side have now found his successor, taking to their official site to announce the appointment of Kasper Hjulmand.
In their statement, Bayer announced: “Kasper Hjulmand is the new head coach at Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Bayer 04 have signed the Dane, who has a contract to 30 June 2027, as the successor to Erik ten Hag.”
The statement continues: “Hjulmand was most recently coach of the Danish national team. In 2021, he and his team reached the semi-finals of the European Championships, where the Danes narrowly lost to England in extra time.
“Following the 2-0 defeat against Germany in the Round of 16 at EURO 2024, Hjulmand resigned from his position as Denmark coach after four years. He was head coach at Mainz 05 in the 2014/15 Bundesliga campaign.
Speaking about the appointment, Leverkusen’s managing director Simon Rolfes commented: “We are delighted to have brought in Kasper Hjulmand, whose work we have followed closely over a long period of time.”
He continued: “His assistant coach with Denmark, Ismael Camenforte, also worked for us for several years. Kasper even recommended Ismael to us at the time.
“As a result, his training methods are well known to us at the club and Kasper also knows our club very well from the last few years. He will now work with our team to re-establish a clear and proactive style of play.
“Kasper is the right man to develop our new Werkself side into a top team that will strive to achieve the most ambitious national and international goals.”
