Besiktas have appointed former Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhurst as their new coach after reports emerged that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is close to reaching an agreement to take over the Turkish Süper Lig team.
Solskjaer has not held a football role since leaving Manchester United in 2021, having previously coached at Molde and Cardiff City, among others.
Since then, he has been linked with a number of positions, including taking over as Republic of Ireland manager earlier this year, but the former striker has been very selective about his next move.
Accordingly ESPNSolskjaer was first contacted in January and the Turkish club have been monitoring his situation since then and will now look to appoint him as manager.
But the Norwegian coach’s return to the dugout was thwarted by the Dutchman on Wednesday afternoon, and the club announced the new signing with a stylish black-and-white video clip.
Besiktas has signed former Rangers head coach Giovanni van Bronckhorst ahead of next season
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was reportedly close to returning to management three years after leaving Manchester United
Solskjaer was sacked by the Red Devils at the end of 2023 despite leading them to two consecutive top-four finishes
The club has offered the former Scottish Premiership head coach a two-year contract with the option to extend until June 2027.
Had Solskjaer taken over the post in his place, the Norwegian would potentially have become the second former Manchester United manager to move to Turkey in a matter of days after Jose Mourinho, who left Roma at the start of the season, was appointed head coach of Fenerbahce.
Solskjaer took over from Mourinho at United in 2018 and led the club to two consecutive top-four finishes before, like the Portuguese, being relieved of his duties.
In the 2020–21 season, he led United to second place in the league and to the final of the Europa League, where they lost to Villarreal on penalties.
In September, the six-time Premier League winner announced that he had taken on a new role as UEFA Technical Observer, a role in which he will attend and report on Champions League matches throughout the season.
In March, he spoke about his problems with his team at United, saying: “Nobody said no when he wanted to be captain of the club, it was just about certain games. That is petty and shows a lack of ambition.”
Speaking to Stick to Football, presented by SkyBet, about his time with Cristiano Ronaldo, he added: “It didn’t work out for me, it didn’t work out for Cristiano, but at the time it was the right decision.”
“With the ball, with him in the team, it was no problem. Without him [pressing]we had to change the roles we were used to a little. We were one of the teams with the highest pressing before [Ronaldo joined].
“We let Dan James go when Cristiano came and they are two different types of players. For me it was the right decision – but it turned out it wasn’t the right one.”
Solskjaer would have become the second former Manchester United coach after Jose Mourinho (centre) to move to the Turkish Super Lig within a matter of days.
Mourinho was confirmed as Fenerbahce head coach on Sunday after leaving Roma at the start of last season.
Van Bronckhorst will take over a team that finished sixth in the Turkish Süper Lig last season.
After last winning the league title in 2021, they have slipped in recent years, finishing sixth in 2021-22, third in 2022-23 and sixth last season.
Fernando Santos was appointed manager in January but was sacked in April after replacing Riza Calimbay, who was appointed in November.
The Dutch manager is out of work after leaving Rangers in 2022, having previously worked as a coach at his former club Feyenoord and Chinese team Guangzhou City FC.
