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John Heitinga is set to be named as the new head coach of Ajax, with the 41-year-old reaching an agreement over terms to replace Francesco Farioli.

The former Everton defender joined Arne Slot’s coaching staff last year when he took up an assistant role at Liverpool, but Heitinga will return to the club where he coached for half a season on an interim basis in 2023.

Sources have told Liverpool.com that Heitinga and Ajax are in "total agreement", although nothing has been officially signed.



If John is smart, he would stay here one more season.”

While Heitinga is a popular choice among the hierarchy at Ajax, he was not the club’s first choice as head coach.

Heitinga joined Slot last summer as one of his two assistant coaches at Liverpool.

The 40-year-old won the KNVB Cup with Go Ahead Eagles last season, his first season as a senior coach, while also finishing seventh in the Eredivisie.

However, Ajax felt Heitinga would bring more maturity and coaching experience to the role

That decision is believed to have irked Heitinga, but with Mislintat now out of the picture, that particular barrier to his return has been removed.

Marijn Beuker (director of football) and Alex Kroes (technical director) agreed that Heitinga was the best candidate for the role after Ten Hag’s rejection

Instead, it’s Heitinga who will take over the vacancy, to be assisted by Marcel Keizer.

It leaves Slot with a space to fill in his coaching staff, although sources have stated his departure would not have been felt as keenly as Sipke Hulshoff, who is seen as Slot’s right-hand man.


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