Arne Slot has hailed Liverpool coach Johnny Heitinga, believing Ajax missed a trick not hiring the Dutchman permanently.
Soccer News cover comments from the Liverpool manager today from an interview with Algemeen Dagblad in which he praises Heitinga.
The latter moved to Anfield alongside Slot as part of his new look backroom team appointed in the summer.
He’s taken up the assistant manager role at the club, his latest stint in that position after holding the same role at West Ham United for a year.
The 41-year-old has been forging his way in coaching since retiring in 2016, initially heading back to former club Ajax.
He had various roles at the club from that point, first working as the assistant manager for the U21s then working as manager of the youth side at U17, U18, U19 and U21 level.
He was then hired as Ajax’s caretaker manager in January 2023, taking charge for 22 games until the end of the season and enjoying a 2.05 points per game ratio while in the role.
They elected against handing him the role permanently, though, going in a different direction and leaving Heitinga to return to England with West Ham and now Liverpool.
That’s something Slot believes should be questioned, praising his assistant manager and believing Ajax’s mistake is to Liverpool’s benefit.
“At Liverpool they see that Heitinga does a good job,” he said.
“The fact that Sven Mislintat did not choose Heitinga as head coach at the time and that he therefore left Ajax for that reason, Liverpool now benefits from that.
“They apparently did not realize in Amsterdam that they had an excellent trainer in-house.”
