John Heitinga has explained his decision to leave Liverpool and take the head coach job at Ajax, having “become more complete” during his time at Anfield.
Heitinga has left Arne Slot‘s staff after less than a year at Liverpool, departing to sign a two-year deal as Ajax head coach.
It comes following a previous spell as caretaker boss of the Amsterdam club, where he also spent 18 years as a player, coming through the academy before making 218 first-team appearances.
The lure of Ajax is obvious, then, but the decision to leave a successful setup on Merseyside will still have been a difficult one.
“I had a fantastic year there,” Heitinga reflected of his time at Liverpool, speaking to Ajax’s official website.
“Winning the league was the crown to our work.
“But the conversations I had with Alex [Kroes, technical director] and Marijn [Beuker, director of football], and the idea behind it all, made me very excited to start here.
“I have been following Ajax recently, and I was able to watch a lot.
“That’s what you get when you live in England and your family lives in Amsterdam, you have some spare time!
“Ajax also continued to develop, [departed head coach Francesco] Farioli built something here and we want to continue working on that. That’s why I’m excited to start.”
Asked to sum up his time as assistant at both Liverpool and before that West Ham, Heitinga said: “[It was] educational. Amazing, actually.
“I gained international experience, got a look behind-the-scenes in perhaps the biggest competition in the world.
“I got to work with two coaches of which one has been around for a long time, and the other one got to continue Jurgen Klopp‘s legacy.
“I think, together, we built something wonderful there last season.”
While this is not Heitinga’s first experience of a leading role it is his first on a permanent contract, and the 41-year-old believes his work at Liverpool will help him to establish himself.
“You become more complete,” he continued.
“You gain international experience, you have to deal with the fact that in the English league every match is another challenge, you analyse every opponent.
“Also in the Champions League, where you have to perform, the intensity of the game.
“But mostly about how you build a team and how you treat each other. That has been very important in the last two seasons.”
Liverpool are yet to identify a replacement for Heitinga but according to The Athletic‘s James Pearce the search is underway – Slot’s former assistant, Marino Pusic, would appear the obvious candidate.
