Chelsea Reaches Accord With Ajax to Appoint Coach Henk ten Cate
Chelsea said it reached an agreement with AFC Ajax NV to recruit Henk ten Cate from the 29-time Dutch soccer champion as assistant first-team coach.
The 52-year-old contract will be completed in the next 24 hours, Chelsea said in a statement on its Web site two days after Ajax announced it had given permission for its manager to leave for the west London club.
Ten Cate will organize coaching at Chelsea, while new head coach Avram Grant will still have input into team selection and tactics, the Sun reported on Oct. 4. Grant, originally appointed by Chelsea as its director of football in July, replaced Jose Mourinho as manager on Sept. 20.
Ten Cate joined Ajax in 2006 from Barcelona, where he was the assistant to Frank Rijkaard. He led Ajax to second in the Dutch league last season, missing out to PSV Eindhoven for the title on goal difference.
The Amsterdam club this season lost in qualifying for the Champions League group stage and was ousted last week in the first round of Europe second-tier UEFA Cup by Dinamo Zagreb.
It also failed in the Champions League preliminaries last season.
Champions League
Chelsea tops its Champions League group following a 2-1 victory at Valencia on Oct. 3. It beat Bolton 1-0 three days ago for its first Premier League success under Grant.
Chelsea, which won the F.A. and League Cup titles last season, is aiming to regain the Premier League title from Manchester United. It also last season lost in the Champions League semifinals for a third time in four years.
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