West Ham United star Mohamed Kudus has hailed coach John Heitinga, labelling the new Liverpool coach as the best he worked with at former club Ajax.
The West Ham forward has been speaking to Voetbal Primeur about the new Liverpool coach after working with him temporarily at Ajax.
Kudus joined Ajax from Nordsjaelland in a €9m deal in July 2020 and, after being made to wait for his chance, was soon shining and proving worthy of the money spent on him.
He was unable to help the Dutch club when the club hit the rocks in his last season, though, with the 2022/2023 campaign seeing them finish third and miss out on Champions League football for the first time since 2009.
That campaign saw Heitinga placed in temporary charge from January until the end of the season after the decision to sack Alfred Schreuder.
He was ultimately not handed the job long-term, with Ajax preferring a more experienced candidate despite Heitinga doing well during his 22 games in charge and finishing with a points per game tally of 2.05.
Kudus also enjoyed his time with him, managing 12 goals and five assists before heading for West Ham that summer, where the two later reunited as Heitinga later joined David Moyes’ backroom team.
He’s now moved to Liverpool as Arne Slot’s new assistant and Kudus has nothing but glowing praise for him.
“I felt very good under Heitinga. He is the best trainer I have had at Ajax,” he said.
“Apart from the training aspect, I also have a very high regard for him in terms of standards and values. Personally, I would have loved to work with him longer. He is a top trainer, and I really appreciated his efforts to make the players better at the time.
“When he took over for the rest of the season, he made an immediate impact. It got better.
“When we met again, there were immediate things that connected us. He tried to make me and all the other players better. I am very grateful to him for our time at West Ham.”
