Ajax watcher Mike Verweij has argued that John Heitinga should have been given more time in charge of Ajax last season. He made the point on Kick-off, the football podcast of De Telegraaf.
Heitinga was appointed in the summer of 2025 by then technical director Alex Kroes, taking over from the departed Francesco Farioli.
However, the former Ajax defender was sacked on 6 November, and Kroes followed by drawing his own conclusions and leaving the club. The Amsterdam side ultimately ended that season in fifth place.
During the podcast, presenter Pim Sedee highlighted an interesting comparison. After seven VriendenLoterij Eredivisie matches, Heitinga had actually picked up one point more than current Ajax manager Míchel Sánchez.
Verweij agreed with that assessment. In his view, Heitinga should indeed have been given more time. He does not believe the former defender would have squeezed more out of this Ajax squad than Míchel, but he insists it remains a problem that Kroes and general director Menno van Geelen gave in to pressure from Louis van Gaal, who serves as an adviser to the supervisory board.
He also pointed out that Danny Blind played a major role in the dismissal. According to Verweij, Ajax finished fifth and would still have reached that same position under Heitinga. Still, if the same small statistic is stretched across four matches, Míchel comes out ahead.
