Ajax Amsterdam has reached an agreement with John Heitinga to take over as a new coach, with former club coach Marcel Keizer to serve as his assistant, various Dutch media reported Friday.
The 41-year-old Heitinga moved from Liverpool, where he was one of the assistants of Arne Slot in their Premier League-winning season.
He will sign a two -year contract, added reports on all major Dutch media, to replace the Italian Francesco Farioli, who resigned earlier this month after Ajax blown a nine points lead and was blown on the league title by PSV Eindhoven.
There has been no announcement from Ajax yet.
Heitinga, who won 87 caps for the Netherlands, previously worked as an assistant to the then Ajax coach Keizer in the 2016-17 season. The club's reserves compete in the Dutch Second Division and were second that season, but were not allowed to promote.
Heitinga was also the acting coach of Ajax from January to June 2023 after firing Alfred Schreuder and brought them to third place, as well as the Dutch Cup final, where they lost from PSV on penalties.
After that, however, he was not permanently offered.
Keizer was promoted to Ajax coach in mid-2017, but was rejected after five months and replaced by Erik ten Hag, who then had a successful run that was in charge of the Amsterdam side.
Ten Hag had been a candidate to return to Ajax for next season, but chose to include an offer from Bayer Leverkusen instead.
Heitinga came through the Ajax Youth Ranks as a player and won two league titles in the first team in his eight years before he started playing for Atletico Madrid, Everton, Fulham and Hertha BSC.
He returned to Ajax in 2015, but soon withdrew after an assortment of injury.