Following his appointment on an initial three-year contract at Old Trafford, Ten Hag has started putting together his backroom staff at his new club.
Ten Hag previously worked as an assistant manager under Rutten at PSV between 2009 and 2012 during his formative years.
This time Ten Hag wanted the roles to be reversed, with Rutten coming in as one of Ten Hag's assistants but the 59-year-old wants to remain in the Netherlands and join the backroom staff of incoming PSV manager, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, instead.
“Erik ten Hag has asked me to be his assistant at Manchester United, I said no,” Rutten told ESPN.
“Everyone makes his own choices in life. I have a family, I have grandchildren that I want to see. This type of project, I felt uncomfortable with it.
“At Manchester United you get on a train and you can’t get off it. I want to feel comfortable in something you step into. That is the case with PSV. It’s nice when you have grandchildren, who you see every now and then and who you can play ball with.”
Ten Hag has a major rebuilding job on his hands at Manchester United, who suffered a crushing 4-0 defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion in the Premier League over the weekend.
The Red Devils are out of the race for the Champions League and even a place in the Europa League is not guaranteed.
