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Over the weekend, former Netherlands midfielder Rutten – who has managed a host of Eredivisie clubs including PSV, Vitesse and Feyenoord – revealed he had been approached by his compatriot to move to Old Trafford.
However, the 59-year-old declined Ten Hag’s offer and says he prefers to stay in his native Netherlands to be close to his family – though is set to return to coaching as Ruud van Nistelrooy’s number two at PSV.
‘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.
‘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 you can play ball with.’
After the humiliating nature of United’s 4-0 defeat to Brighton on Saturday, Ferdinand was even more exasperated when he read Rutten’s comments a day later and is in disbelief over how the club are now viewed.
Speaking on his Vibe with FIVE YouTube show, he said: ‘There’s loads of things that are wrong at Man United at the moment.
‘We’ve seen even yesterday in the papers saying the PSV number two coach has declined to come to Man United and be a coach. This is unheard of.
‘We’re in territory we’ve never been in before. A job comes up at Manchester United [in the past], there would be queues round the block for people to take the job!
‘Now there’s queues of people saying, “You know what, that might be a train you don’t get on”. It’s crazy.’
Ten Hag, who will take over at Old Trafford as soon as he has finished the Eredivisie season with Ajax, is expected to bring his current assistant Mitchell van der Gaag with him to Manchester.
However, he also wants a more experienced coach as part of his backroom team – such as Rutten – and has been linked with adding the likes of Steve McClaren and Rene Meulensteen to his coaching setup.
MORE : Rio Ferdinand apologises to Jose Mourinho and says he was right about Manchester United
MORE : Manchester United delete Erik ten Hag and Ajax post on Twitter after supporter backlash
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