If Erik ten Hag decides to leave Ajax, Arne Slot is the best candidate successor in the eyes of Ibrahim Afellay. Slot is currently experiencing an excellent first season as a trainer of Feyenoord and would fit well in Amsterdam according to Afellay and Theo Janssen. In an interview this week, Ten Hag hinted that he would ‘like to take on’ a possible new challenge, although he is ‘not looking for it’.
The analysts of Studio Football take the words as a signal that the trainer may be working on his last season; Pierre van Hooijdonk and Theo Janssen believe that Ajax should only continue with Ten Hag if the trainer is fully convinced of a longer stay. “He has been there for a number of years now. I think it is the time for the trainer to take the next step,” says Janssen. “Ultimately, for Ajax, it’s about whether he wants to stay. Then as a club you have to say that you like to keep it there. But if he says ‘I don’t go hunting, but if something beautiful comes along, I will leave. the train’… Do you want to seduce a trainer? You just have to have the group want to be together. If the trainer is in doubt, he should go.”
Van Hooijdonk responds with ‘no’ to the question whether Ajax should work on a long stay of Ten Hag, à la Sir Alex Ferguson. However, he does praise the trainer. “I think that Ten Hag has done a fantastic job at Ajax, without forgetting that he also received all the resources to do so, such as Overmars who let the salary house collapse to give Tadic and Blind to him. There is a lot of work to be done The conditions are as good as possible. Ten Hag has completed it fantastically. There is a selective group of good trainers, a large middle group and a group that cannot do much of it. Ten Hag belongs to the top group.”
The conversation then turns to the question of who should succeed Ten Hag. “The best Ajax trainer in my opinion is Arne Slot,” says Afellay. “Then we can start talking about ‘yes, but Feyenoord-Ajax is sensitive’. But in terms of appearance and the football that he pursues, he is the best candidate.” Janssen thinks that suggestion is ‘justified’. “Slot would fit there. In terms of football and the way of playing.” However, Van Hooijdonk is also considering other options. “You may have Alfred Schreuder, who worked with Ten Hag at Ajax. Maybe they are looking for it internally. They also have Mitchell van der Gaag there. He has also been there for a while and we may have forgotten that, but it is just assistant to Ten Hag. He just isn’t sitting on the couch.”
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