Liverpool supporters already know John Heitinga for his time taking part in at Everton, however the 40-year-old is now a coach and has joined Arne Slot‘s Reds.
Seven years teaching at Ajax, rising by the youth ranks to grow to be caretaker supervisor, led to Heitinga’s transfer to West Ham in 2023, the place he turned assistant supervisor.
With David Moyes leaving this summer time, although, Heitinga moved on too and is now becoming a member of Liverpool’s teaching employees as an assistant coach.
Right here, Dutch soccer journalist Elko Born (@Elko_B) discusses Heitinga, his teaching profession and what he can carry to Slot’s employees.
What do you suppose attracted Slot & Liverpool to Heitinga?
I believe it’s necessary that he’s nonetheless fairly younger, and that his taking part in years are nonetheless not that way back.
Clearly, he is aware of England and the Premier League from his expertise as a participant as nicely. I believe that’s very, crucial, his expertise in that regard. He is aware of town of Liverpool as nicely.
I do suppose that it was possibly not his tactical abilities as a coach that satisfied Slot to get him, however I do suppose that Slot might be impressed by the way in which he is ready to speak to gamers to construct relationships with them, to narrate to them.
He’s nonetheless fairly younger however I believe on a human stage, Heitinga is kind of gifted and it’s an necessary talent to have as a supervisor.
And that, mixed together with his expertise as a participant within the Premier League, I believe that’s a really beneficial talent set to have on board at Liverpool.
How did he rise to grow to be Ajax’s caretaker supervisor?
I believe on the time, as a senior participant he did take up a little bit of a management position within the Ajax squad round his last stretch at Ajax.
He began working within the Ajax youth academy fairly rapidly after retiring as a participant, so I believe that ambition has at all times been fairly apparent for him.
For a very long time, it appeared like he was going to grow to be Ajax supervisor sometime in the long run, and clearly he was caretaker boss for a short while. However in the long run, it didn’t fairly work out for him the way in which he had hoped.
His stint as Ajax supervisor, as a caretaker, it wasn’t that dangerous. He turned the caretaker boss in a horrible season for Ajax, certainly one of their worst seasons ever.
When he got here in as caretaker, he did handle to carry one thing again for the primary crew, get a couple of outcomes and regular the ship for Ajax that yr.
However in the long run, it wasn’t sufficient to persuade the Ajax management to maintain him on as first crew supervisor.
Might this then be a stepping stone prefer it was for Pep Lijnders?
I’m undecided but. It might be a stepping stone for him. He at all times needed to grow to be Ajax supervisor however when he did grow to be Ajax supervisor as a caretaker it didn’t work out as nicely for him as he had hoped.
It should have been such an enormous skilled disappointment for him. He hasn’t stated a lot about it, however I ponder how he feels personally now?
Does he really feel like, ‘OK, possibly I’m too younger to be a primary crew supervisor, possibly I want extra expertise as an assistant someplace earlier than taking on that senior management position in a membership?’
Or possibly did he uncover for himself, if not for anybody else, that possibly being the primary crew supervisor and the man in cost doesn’t swimsuit him as a lot as he would have appreciated?
Perhaps he’s extra of a coach, and possibly he must be an assistant someplace, maybe in Liverpool. And possibly that’s only a job that fits his talent set higher.
What are a few of his traits as a coach?
I do suppose he’s very lively on the sidelines – he’s fairly a passionate man. He’s solely comparatively not too long ago retired from soccer.
He’s nonetheless very a lot emotionally concerned with what his gamers are doing, which I believe can clearly be an excellent factor for a coach or a supervisor.
It’s a method that fits him, to be very concerned, to be emotionally concerned as nicely. I believe that’s his energy as a coach. I believe he’s superb at referring to gamers, at constructing relationships with the crew and a squad of gamers.
I believe the gamers at Ajax appreciated him on a private stage very a lot, so this relationship aspect of teaching, I believe that’s the place his skills actually lie and possibly not within the extra tactical side of being a soccer supervisor.
Thanks once more to Elko Born for his perception on Heitinga’s teaching profession. You’ll be able to observe Elko on X @Elko_B.
