Belief West Ham coach “would have loved” to work under specific manager – Former club made it impossible

West Ham United coach John Heitinga would have loved to remain at Ajax and work under manager Peter Bosz, if he had been hired by the Dutch club.

That’s according to journalist Valentijn Driessen, who says things could have worked out differently for the West Ham coach had Edwin van der Sar had his way at Ajax.

Heitinga joined West Ham as part of David Moyes’ backroom staff earlier this month after leaving Ajax in the summer.

The former defender had been in temporary charge of the Dutch giants last season but was not offered the job on a permanent basis by new director of football Sven Mislintat.

He instead hired manager Maurice Steijn as part of a major rebuild at the club under his guidance, going against what other directors, namely Edwin van der Sar, had planned.

The goalkeeper turned director had wanted to hire manager Peter Bosz, according to Driessen, and this could have seen Heitinga remain where he was rather than depart and eventually reunite with his former manager, Moyes, at West Ham.

“I have always said: Edwin van der Sar fell for Peter Bosz,” Driessen explained.

“But just before he left for Amsterdam, he said that he would still agree with Peter Bosz. Only Mislintat was already working with Maurice Steijn, and he refused to break it off. He did not want to do business with Bosz.

“In the end, Van der Sar wanted to step over his shadow this year and he said: ‘We are going for Peter Bosz.’

“The crazy thing is that John Heitinga was still employed by Ajax at the time. Heitinga has asked Mislintat several times: ‘Are you already involved with someone else?’

“That was absolutely out of the question. He could have very easily switched to Peter Bosz, if that had been the truth at that moment. Heitinga would also have loved to become an assistant under Bosz.”