Fred Rutten turns down assistant coach’s job at Manchester United

Fred Rutten has revealed that he turned down an offer to become one of Erik ten Hag’s assistants at Manchester United.

Rutten, 59, a former Netherlands midfielder who has managed a string of clubs over the past 20 years or so, including Twente, Schalke, PSV Eindhoven, Vitesse and Feyenoord, preferred to stay in his native Netherlands to be close to his family.

Rutten is set to return to PSV, where he has been lined up as an assistant to Ruud Van Nistelrooy, who will take over as the club’s manager next season.

“Erik ten Hag has asked me to be his assistant at Manchester United, I said no,” Rutten told Dutch TV. “Everyone makes his own choices in life. I have a family, I have grandchildren that I want to see. This type of project, I felt uncomfortable with it.”

He added: “At Manchester United you get on a train and you can’t get off it. I want to feel comfortable in something you step into. That is the case with PSV. It’s nice when you have grandchildren, who you see every now and then and who can play ball with.”

Ten Hag, who will take over at United in the summer after finishing the season with Ajax, will bring some of his own staff to Old Trafford. They are expected to include Mitchell van der Gaag, his assistant at Ajax, while Steve McClaren has also been linked with a return to his former club.