Borussia Dortmund have appointed Peter Bosz as their new head coach, a week after the departure of Thomas Tuchel.
Bosz, 53, joins on a two-year contract after having led Ajax to the Europa League final, with Dortmund reportedly having agreed to pay the Eredivisie side €5 million.
Dortmund were said to have made Nice coach Lucien Favre their top target for the position but the French club issued a statement ruling out his departure and Bosz, who joined Ajax last summer after a short spell with Maccabi Tel Aviv, was then installed as the favourite.
Despite a slow start at Ajax in which they lost a Champions League playoff to Rostov, the former Heracles and Vitesse Arnhem boss ultimately led his young side to the Europa League final, where they were beaten 2-0 by Manchester United, while finishing runners-up to Feyenoord in the Eredivisie.
Bosz’s side adopted an attacking approach inspired by his role model, the Ajax and Netherlands great Johan Cruyff, but reports in the Dutch media on Tuesday morning said he decided to leave the Amsterdam Arena in part down to a conflict over training and playing philosophy with other members of the coaching staff, including Dennis Bergkamp, who had been one of his assistants.
Schön, dass Du da bist, Peter Bosz! //
Glad you're here, Peter Bosz! #welkombosz #bvb #bvblive pic.twitter.com/iI3aCY156O— Borussia Dortmund (@BVB) June 6, 2017
Bosz — a fluent German speaker — will be the second Dutchman to take charge at Dortmund as he follows in the footsteps of Bert van Marwijk, who coached the club as they battled bankruptcy in the mid-2000s.
He inherits a young BVB side that finished third in the Bundesliga last season, securing automatic Champions League qualification, and won the DFB Pokal, their first trophy in five years.
Tuchel, who had replaced Jurgen Klopp in 2015, left the Westfalenstadion after a tumultuous season in which there were regular reports of disagreements with both the club hierarchy and senior players.
Source:Wires