Ruud van Nistelrooy, Rene Hake and Erik ten Hag
Rene Hake chats to Ruud van Nistelrooy and Erik ten Hag at Carrington
Rene Hake has revealed he holds no grudges for his Manchester United departure, despite leaving the club just a few months after joining as Erik ten Hag's assistant manager.
Hake was one of several new arrivals in the summer, strengthening Ten Hag's backroom team, but only Andreas Georgson stayed on when Ten Hag sacked at the end of October.
Hake gave up a management job with Go Ahead Eagles in the Netherlands to join United and despite his short stay at Old Trafford, he is grateful for the experience of working at the club and in the Premier League.
“I don’t hold any grudges anyway. I worked well with players, staff and other personnel. I personally said goodbye to everyone, to end it well," he told Algemeen Dagblad.
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“I was allowed to look behind the scenes at one of the biggest clubs in the world. Into the kitchen of the Premier League too, the NBA of football. If you zoom out, I realise how special that is with my background.”
Hake reserved praise for Casemiro and relished the experience of working with the former Real Madrid midfielder, describing his understanding of the game and ability to appreciate danger as a key trait.
"With Casemiro I sometimes thought: he smells things. When it really matters, he has an antenna, he already senses what’s going to happen on the field," he said.
Hake also explained the work he did with Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho, trying to improve their runs in behind, while he also helped Bruno Fernandes try and develop his game.
“Rashford and Garnacho were soon open to working on their timing during deep runs,” he said. “Also with images. With Bruno Fernandes, it was a lot about choosing a position in our build-up. And sometimes a player also says: I’d rather not change anything in my game at the moment. Okay, you accept that too.”