THE HAGUE, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- Ajax and FC Utrecht reached an agreement on the transfer of coach Erik ten Hag to Amsterdam, both clubs announced on Thursday.

Ten Hag will sign a contract for 2.5 years at Ajax, starting on January 1, 2018. The 47-year-old succeeds Marcel Keizer, who was fired one week ago following a disappointing first half of the season.

Under the reign of Keizer, Ajax failed to qualify for the main tournament of the Champions League and the Europa League and the club was ousted in the last sixteen of the Dutch Cup. Ajax are currently five points behind PSV in the Dutch league.

As a coach, Ten Hag led Go Ahead Eagles to promotion to the Eredivisie in 2013. He coached the reserves team of German giants Bayern Munich from 2013-2015 and in 2015 he moved to FC Utrecht.

With Utrecht Ten Hag finished fifth and fourth respectively in the Eredivisie in the last two seasons and the club is currently sixth in the Dutch league.