It felt like one of the strangest moves of the summer. Johnny Heitinga, a former Ajax caretaker manager and Everton defender, linking up with an ex-Feyenoord head coach Arne Slot at Liverpool.
Rarely have men on either side of the fiercest rivalry in Dutch football paired up on a new project in football elsewhere, and never before has a player who has spent so long at Goodison Park taken a high-profile role on Liverpool’s coaching team — certainly not somebody with the status of a World Cup finalist.
Rafa Benitez was given a verbal beating for taking the Everton job three years ago, a decade after leaving Anfield, and Sammy Lee, a former Liverpool player, has since talked about getting abuse for agreeing to work at Goodison under Sam Allardyce, although these were unique in their own right. Benitez was the manager who delivered the Champions League for Liverpool in 2005 and Lee was a local lad synonymous with a golden period for the club between 1976 and 1986.
Gary Ablett also played for both, then coached at Everton’s academy before leaving to take over the reserves at Liverpool, but he was also from the area and was cherished by everyone, being the only player to win the FA Cup with both clubs. Heitinga, as an import from overseas, occupies a slightly different space.
Yet his availability this summer, following his exit from West Ham United in the wake of David Moyes’ departure as their manager, opened up an opportunity Liverpool felt was too good to turn down.
The 40-year-old, with his experience of working in the Premier League, was seen as ideal to plug a gap in the backroom team. Slot wanted some of his tried and trusted allies alongside him, so Sipke Hulshoff, his former No 2 at Feyenoord, and Ruben Peeters, the head of physical performance, both joined him on this new adventure in England. Ex-Manchester City man Aaron Briggs arrived from Germany’s Wolfsburg as first-team individual development coach with particular responsibilities for set-pieces and Heitinga followed as the final piece of the puzzle. Cue surprise, from Merseyside all the way to the Netherlands.
Ahead of Heitinga’s reunion with West Ham tonight (Wednesday) at Anfield in the Carabao Cup, The Athletic spoke to multiple sources with knowledge of his work, who asked to remain anonymous to protect their relationships, to understand how the move came about and why there is such confidence it can succeed.
When Heitinga’s appointment was first revealed by Liverpool, the surprise was sparked less by his and Slot’s historic links to rival Dutch clubs than the fact they were relatively unknown to each other.
The men have had brief interactions in football. Heitinga — a former Ajax player who had been carefully planning every step towards eventually becoming their head coach — was appointed as the Amsterdam club’s caretaker manager role during a crisis in 2023, just when Slot was about to win the title with Rotterdam’s Feyenoord.
As it happened, Heitinga and Slot had a mutual friend who agreed the pair would work well together. Slot, renowned as a strong-minded leader but also an intelligent delegator, contacted Heitinga to suggest meeting up. In their homeland, they discussed playing style, previous experiences and the exciting challenge ahead at Liverpool. Quickly, it became clear they shared the same ideas and a new relationship began.
Heitinga felt great pride at the opportunity to work at such a big club. He sees his coaching career as a new challenge and far removed from his playing days, which is why there was no doubt over his decision, even with his Everton links.
It doesn’t mean he has lost his affection for a club where he made 140 appearances over five seasons from 2009-14, but if there was any doubt as to where his allegiances lie, they were dispelled by a recent viral clip of him mocking Everton’s defence in a Liverpool training session.
Former Everton defender Johnny Heitinga in training: “It’s like Everton’s defence”.
— Anfield Edition (@AnfieldEdition) September 12, 2024
Five wins from the opening six games represent a decent start for the new Anfield staff, who are tasked with filling the void left by Jurgen Klopp, and the coaches who helped him achieve his success.
Heitinga is playing a big part, particularly with Ryan Gravenberch, the midfielder who has excelled in these opening weeks of the season. A number of one-to-one sessions have helped define the specifics around Gravenberch’s No 6 position and exactly what he should be doing both in and out of possession.
There is a focus on moulding the young Dutchman into a clear profile — in short, someone who can mix both the defensive and attacking parts of a midfielder’s job, but crucially build play through quick and purposeful passing.
The 22-year-old seems more at ease than at any point since joining Liverpool from German giants Bayern Munich last summer in a £35million ($46.7m at the current exchange rate) deal. Working alongside Heitinga, who Gravenberch remembers as a strict but motivating coach when he was coming through the Ajax youth teams, is helping.
Heitinga has also spent extra time with some of Liverpool’s forwards — that session with Darwin Nunez where he teased Everton was one such example — and Slot appreciates his tactical insights. During pre-season, as the new head coach drafted his plans for the opening game away against Ipswich Town, Heitinga was dispatched on a scouting mission to check out the promoted side for additional background checks.
His experience of coming up against Premier League opponents may help Slot, a newcomer to English football, when preparing for future matches and was one of the reasons why he was recognised as a valuable addition.
During his short time in temporary charge of Ajax, for the second half of the 2022-23 season, he promoted a style to keep possession, press high, and win the ball back quickly — methods in line with the vision of Slot.
It’s why he ticked a lot of boxes this summer after leaving West Ham, where he worked as first-team coach for eight months under Moyes, who had been his manager at Everton.
Whenever Moyes wanted a second opinion during a game, Heitinga generally provided it. Before he moved to the London Stadium, he gave glowing references to Moyes on two key targets: the Ajax pair of Mohammed Kudus and Edson Alvarez. Kudus returned the favour in an interview with Dutch magazine Voetbal in July, saying, “I felt very good under Heitinga. He is the best coach I had at Ajax. When we saw each other again, there were immediately things that connected us. He tried to make me, and all the other players, better.”
It’s no secret that when the former defender retired at the age of 32, he set his sights on managing at the highest level. That started with youngsters at Ajax, then their under-19s, where The Athletic watched his intense training sessions in February 2020 and listened to his thoughts on some of the people he looked up to.
“There are a few influences: Ajax’s style from the past with (Johan) Cruyff, but also (Louis) Van Gaal, and the relationship that Moyes had with players,” he said. “Pep Guardiola, (Atletico Madrid coach) Diego Simeone are two others. Also Liverpool’s high intensity — when they get the ball, it’s the quickest way to goal.”
Heitinga moved up to coach the reserve team and in January 2023, when Alfred Schreuder was sacked with the first team sitting fifth in the Eredivisie, seven points behind Slot’s league-leading and title-bound Feyenoord, he achieved his target of taking control of the first team, albeit in awkward circumstances.
Heitinga was disappointed when he was not appointed permanently, having won 14 and lost five of his 24 matches, although time is still on his side to progress in the future, assuming he reaches his goals with Liverpool. He still “eats and drinks the game” according to those who have worked with him, and encourages players to train with the intensity they play with.
And what about Everton? Some of their supporters who have bumped into him around Liverpool wished him well, although others might not be so friendly in December when the sides meet for what is likely to be the final derby at Goodison before Everton’s planned move to their new stadium next year.
(Top photo: Peter Byrne/PA Images via Getty Images)
