Mike Verweij believes John Heitinga should have been given more time at Ajax last season, as the Ajax watcher said in Kick-off, the football podcast of De Telegraaf.
Then technical director Alex Kroes appointed Heitinga in the summer of 2025 as the successor to the departed Francesco Farioli.
Ajax sacked the former defender on 6 November, after which Kroes also drew his conclusions and left the club. In the end, the Amsterdam side finished fifth that season.
On the podcast, presenter Pim Sedee points out that after seven VriendenLoterij Eredivisie matches, Heitinga had collected one point more than current Ajax manager Míchel Sánchez.
"Certainly. One point more. Heitinga should also have been given more time. I do not think Heitinga would have got more out of this Ajax than Míchel, but it remains an issue that Kroes and Menno van Geelen (general director, ed.) succumbed to the pressure from Louis van Gaal (adviser to the supervisory board, ed.)," Verweij began.
"Danny Blind also had a big say in that dismissal. Ajax finished fifth and that would still have been achieved with Heitinga. Only if you take this little statistic over four matches again, Míchel comes out on top," Verweij concludes.