DORTMUND, Germany (AP) - Borussia Dortmund hired Peter Bosz as coach from Ajax on Tuesday, a week after firing Thomas Tuchel.
“I’m sure it’s the right step,” said Bosz, who said he had been convinced of the Dortmund project after speaking to chief executive Hans Joachim Watzke and sporting director Michael Zorc. “We had a long talk together, over three hours, and we spoke about everything.”
The 53-year-old Bosz, who is from the Netherlands and speaks fluent German, signed a two-year contract with the German Cup winners.
“We’re assuming that it will hopefully be longer,” Watzke said.
Bosz joins Dortmund after one season in charge of Ajax. A subscriber to Johan Cruyff’s philosophy of play, he transformed the young side into a dynamic team of players who push forward quickly and are just as aggressive in defense.
“Michael Zorc and I had a good feeling about Peter Bosz. We’re really looking forward to it,” Watzke said.
The attacking style is favored in Dortmund, where it led to two straight Bundesliga titles under former coach Juergen Klopp before it was refined under Tuchel, who took over in 2015.
Tuchel was fired on May 30, three days after winning the German Cup - Dortmund’s first title in five years - after falling out with club management.
Tuchel’s team finished third in the Bundesliga, securing a place in the Champions League, with the German Cup bringing a happy end to an inconsistent season.
Former Borussia Moenchengladbach and Hertha Berlin coach Lucien Favre had been expected to take over, but his club Nice ruled out the move.
Ajax finished second to Feyenoord in the Dutch league and reached the Europa League final, losing to Manchester United 2-0. Bosz had a contract until 2019, but reportedly clashed with some of his backroom staff over the team’s style of play.
“Now I want to look forward,” said Bosz, who declined to get into the details of why he left Ajax but said he was sorry to leave the players. “It hurts not to see these players again next year.”
Kicker magazine reported Dortmund was paying a transfer fee of about 3 million euros ($3.4 million) to Ajax for the Dutch coach’s services.
Hendrie Kruzen is also joining as assistant from Ajax, but Dortmund has further vacancies to fill following Tuchel and his staff’s departure.
Bosz, a former midfielder who made eight appearances for the Netherlands, briefly played in the Bundesliga for Hansa Rostock in the late 1990s. He won the Dutch league with Feyenoord in 1993.
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