After John Heitinga left Liverpool to turn into Ajax supervisor in the summertime, the Dutchman’s agent has claimed he suggested his consumer in opposition to it.
Issues aren’t going notably easily for Heitinga in his first senior managerial function.
Ajax are third within the Eredivisie with simply 4 wins from their opening 9 league matches, and so they have misplaced their opening two Champions League matches.
Having left his function as a coach below Arne Slot after successful the Premier League with Liverpool, Heitinga’s agent, Rob Jansen, has now informed the KieftJansenEgmondGijp podcast that he suggested in opposition to the transfer.
By way of Soccer Information, Jansen mentioned: “I informed him I wouldn’t do it, go to Ajax proper now. He needed to do it out of ego, his coronary heart and his feeling for the membership.
“That’s definitely a little bit of opportunism from a younger supervisor who thinks, ‘I’ll take management of issues’.
“However what he was confronted with was the previous, an enormous mess throughout the membership. Your entire administration construction and commissioners are flawed; the board nonetheless wants to search out its approach.”
Ajax haven’t gained the Eredivisie since 2022 and appointed Heitinga as somebody who is aware of the membership.
The previous Everton defender performed 218 occasions for Ajax earlier than incomes his stripes as a coach, creating gamers of their academy and ultimately working his approach as much as caretaker supervisor in 2023.
After working at West Ham and Liverpool, Heitinga deemed himself able to take the Ajax job completely this 12 months, however he has been dealt a troublesome hand.
His agent added: “The gamers he has, together with some they’ve introduced in, it’s an unbalanced squad with just a few older gamers who can’t sustain anymore.
“They’re not likely match and if they convey in [Kasper] Dolberg (striker), he’ll get injured once more. In order Rene says, you must modify expectations.”
Whereas followers could welcome again Heitinga to Liverpool given his success final season, there can be the added complication of Slot having successfully already changed him with Giovanni van Bronckhorst who has additionally held senior managerial roles, notably at Rangers and Feyenoord.
Ajax additionally at present have two Liverpool loanees on the membership, Vitezslav Jaros and James McConnell, so it could be within the Reds’ curiosity to have Heitinga stay in situ for the remainder of the marketing campaign no less than.
