Manchester United have reportedly sounded out the compensation fee for Ajax head coach Erik ten Hag.

Ten Hag is the frontrunner to secure the head coach role at Old Trafford as the Premier League giants look for a long-term option this summer.

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Ralf Rangnick currently sits in the hotseat, but the German is set to move into a consultancy role at the end of the season.

And according to Sky Sports, United have been gathering information around Ten Hag – including what compensation figure Ajax would be expecting.

But how would the Eredivisie champions calculate their manager’s worth and do the Red Devils have any say in the matter? Here’s all you need to know…

What is a compensation fee and how is it worked out?

The manager has often been labelled as the most important figure at any club but finances tell you otherwise.

Unlike player transfers, the fees involved when a coach switches teams are a fraction of the astronomical amounts shelled out on Neymar and co.

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Put simply, a prospective bidder should have to shell out the total cost of paying up a manager’s contract – including both wage and bonuses.

This would also include any clauses inserted in the deal by a club to receive any cash windfall in the event their manager does leave early.

Others costs can include any sponsorship deals their coach has that add value to the team and paying up the contracts of any of the background team that follow out the exit door.

Additional fees raise the price if the selling club need to pay compensation themselves to find a replacement manager.

But teams can choose to waive compensation as well, as was the case when United plucked Rangnick from Lokomotiv Moscow.

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What are the most expensive fees paid for a manager?

Unsurprisingly, the manager merry-go-rounds at both Chelsea and Real Madrid mean that those two account for half of the top ten fees on their own.

However, it is actually Bayern Munich who sit atop the rest having splashed more than £20m to RB Leipzig for Julian Nagelsmann’s services.

Jose Mourinho and his former protegee Brendan Rodgers are the only two managers to appear on the top ten list twice.

Here are the rankings:

• Carlo Ancelotti, (PSG to Real Madrid, £3.2million)
• Manuel Pellegrini (Villarreal to Real Madrid, £3.5million)
• Mark Hughes (Blackburn to Manchester City, £5.2million)
• Brendan Rodgers (Swansea to Liverpool, £5.2million)
• Jose Mourinho (Porto to Chelsea, £6million)
• Jose Mourinho (Inter Milan to Real Madrid, £6.7million)
• Ruben Amorim (Braga to Sporting Lisbon, £8.4million)
• Brendan Rodgers (Celtic to Leicester City, £8.8million)
• Andre Villas-Boas (Porto to Chelsea, £12.6million)
• Julian Nagelsmann (RB Leipzig to Bayern Munich, £21million)