Bayer 04 Leverkusen have sacked head coach Erik ten Hag after two Bundesliga games in charge.

In a statement on Monday, the German club stated that the decision was made by the shareholders' committee, the club’s supervisory body, based on the recommendation of Bayer 04’s management.

"Training will be overseen by the current backroom staff on an interim basis," the club said.

The Managing Director Sport, Simon Rolfes, was quoted as saying: “This decision was not an easy one for us. Nobody wanted to take this step. However, the past few weeks have shown that building a new and successful team with this setup is not feasible. We firmly believe in the quality of our team and will now do everything we can to take the next steps in our development with a new setup.”

The club's CEO, Fernando Carro, said: “A parting of ways at this early stage of the season is painful, but we felt it was necessary. We remain committed to achieving our goals for the season – and to do that, we need the best possible conditions at all levels and across the entire first team. Now it's a matter of fully implementing and utilising these conditions again.”

ASA