Liverpool confirm appointment of John Heitinga to Arne Slot’s coaching staff

Liverpool have now confirmed the appointment of former Everton defender John Heitinga to Arne Slot‘s staff, with the Dutchman joining the coaching setup.

Heitinga has agreed to join Liverpool in the role of assistant coach, serving as another of Slot’s assistants as a new-look backroom nears completion.

It comes after previous roles with Ajax and West Ham, with the 40-year-old having left the latter upon David Moyes’ departure at the end of last season.

He represented Ajax, Atletico Madrid, Everton, Fulham and Hertha Berlin during a 15-year playing career, as well as earning 87 caps as a hard-tackling centre-back for the Netherlands.

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Now he will apply his burgeoning coaching pedigree to Liverpool’s first team, joining Slot’s staff along with the likes of Sipke Hulshoff and Ruben Peeters.

Heitinga arrives with seven years of coaching experience already under his belt, including 22 Games as interim manager at Ajax.

During that time – which saw him stand in after Alfred Schreuder was sacked – he led Ajax to 14 wins, three draws and five losses, finishing third in the Eredivisie and runners-up in the KNVB Cup.

He faced Slot’s Feyenoord twice in that time, losing 3-2 to the eventual champions in the league before winning 2-1 in the KNVB Cup semi-finals.

It will be his experience of playing and working in the Premier League that could prove most important, however, as the majority of Slot’s staff – including the head coach himself – arrive with no proven nous in the English top flight.

Liverpool have also recruited Fabian Otte as head of first-team goalkeeper coaching and Aaron Briggs as first-team individual development coach after a summer that saw a number of coaches leave.

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Jurgen Klopp‘s exit was followed by those of Pepijn Lijnders, Peter Krawietz, Vitor Matos, Andreas Kornmayer, John Achterberg, Jack Robinson and Andreas Schlumberger.

The club had hoped to bring Etienne Reijnen in from Feyenoord along with Slot, Hulshoff and Peeters, only for work permit issues to block the move.

A job advert was posted for a specialist set-piece coach, with Liverpool yet to confirm that position has been filled, though their pursuit of a new strength and conditioning coach is believed to have brought an internal hire.

Another first-team physio has been targeted, while the club have also advertised for two positions on their data team.