Liverpool head coach Arne Slot and Liverpool assistant coach John Heitinga looks on during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD8 match between PSV Eindhoven and Liverpool FC at PSV Stadion
Slot has praised Heitinga's coaching ability since joining Liverpool.
Arne Slot has already given his verdict on John Heitinga returning to Ajax as manager.
The Liverpool assistant has been linked with a return to the club he took charge of on an interim basis in 2023. After an initially impressive start, which included a seven-game winning run, Heitinga left on poor terms with the Dutch giants.
He then spent a year at West Ham United under David Moyes before joining Slot’s coaching team at Anfield, with Heitinga holding an assistant role alongside Sipke Hulshoff. But it’s now reported in the Netherlands that the 41-year-old has been identified as Ajax’s number one choice to replace Francesco Farioli this summer.
According to De Telegraaf, Heitinga is open to taking the role and working alongside Marcel Keizer in a proposed joint manager arrangement.
Reports of Heitinga returning to Ajax first emerged last week, something Slot was asked about before last Sunday’s game against Crystal Palace.
“If Ajax would be smart they would consider him,” the Liverpool boss replied. “He is ready to take on a job like that. If John is smart, he would stay here one more season.”
It’s not the first time Slot has praised Heitinga, who took charge of two first-team matches this season when the Liverpool head coach and Hulshoff were serving touchline suspensions.
“That Sven Mislintat did not choose Heitinga as head coach at the time and that he left Ajax for that reason, Liverpool is now profiting from that,” Slot told Algemeen Dagblad in December.
“Apparently, they did not realise in Amsterdam that they had an excellent coach in-house.”
Former Ajax boss Erik ten Hag has also been considered by Ajax, but he was already negotiating a move to Bayer Leverkusen to replace Xabi Alonso and was not interested in returning to the Netherlands.
Michael Reiziger was another name on Ajax’s list, but opted to extend his stay with the Netherlands Under-21s team.
Heitinga was also linked with a move away from Liverpool in February when he wa s touted as a possible replacement for Carlos Corberan at West Bromwich Albion.
As a player, the ex-defender came through the youth system at Ajax before establishing himself as a first-team regular. He departed in 2008, signing for Atletico Madrid and then moving to Merseyside the following year.
Heitinga spent four and a half years at Goodison Park and then had a brief stint at Fulham. He returned to Ajax in 2015 but retired after one more season back in the Netherlands. That’s when Heigtina’s coaching career began, with a spell in charge of the Under-19 and then Ajax’s second team.