Liverpool added John Heitinga to Arne Slot‘s backroom staff, and his former player and rumoured Liverpool target, Mohammed Kudus, has hailed him as “the best coach” he had at Ajax.
While transfer rumours have died down of late, West Ham‘s Kudus was previously mooted to be on Liverpool’s radar this summer.
He reportedly has an £85 million release clause that will come into effect in 2025, but there has been no word on the Reds sending out feelers for the winger in recent months.
Kudus, though, has worked closely with Heitinga at Ajax and West Ham, and the 23-year-old has offered Liverpool a positive and promising assessment of his coaching capabilities.
“I felt very good under Heitinga,” Kudus told Voetbal. “He is the best coach I have had at Ajax.
“Apart from the training aspect, I also hold him in high regard in terms of standards and values.
Personally, I would have liked to have worked with him longer. He is a top trainer and I really appreciated his efforts to make the players better at the time.
“When he took over for the rest of the season [at Ajax], he immediately showed impact. Things got better.”
When the pair reunited at West Ham in 2023, the winger – who scored 14 goals and notched six assists last season – added: “When we saw each other again, there were things that connected us immediately.
“He tried to make me and all the other players better. I am very grateful to him for our time at West Ham.
As a testimony to what the Reds can expect, it is a welcome one to hear as Heitinga joins Slot’s staff which already includes Sipke Hulshoff and Ruben Peeters.
The 40-year-old arrives at Anfield with seven years of coaching experience already under his belt, including 22 games – 14 of which he won – as interim manager at Ajax.
That Kudus said he “would have liked to work with him longer” is a nod to what Liverpool are getting in their new coach, and it would not be so bad to use that relationship in transfer talks if there was ever an opening.
The Hammers will not allow the winger to leave on the cheap, understandably so, though he has been linked with clubs in Saudi Arabia of late after an eye-catching debut Premier League season.
