Former Liverpool coach abruply departs his latest role after just seven games | OneFootball

Former Liverpool assistant coach John Heitinga has left his role at Tottenham Hotspur after only 33 days in the job.

The Dutchman came to Anfield in July 2024 as part of Arne Slot’s backroom staff ahead of the latter’s first season as the Reds’ head coach, contributing towards our Premier League triumph last year before leaving to take charge of Ajax.

He lasted just five months with the Amsterdam club prior to being appointed to Thomas Frank’s coaching ticket in mid-January, but the Dane was promptly sacked by Spurs last week with the Europa League holders languishing in 16th place domestically.

Heitinga quits as Spurs assistant coach

On Monday, The Athletic reported that Heitinga has left his role at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium just over a month after coming to north London.

It was the 42-year-old’s decision to leave Spurs, choosing not to remain part of the new coaching structure under interim head coach Igor Tudor, with the Croatian instead bringing some of his former Juventus backroom staff with him to the English capital.

While Slot’s one-time assistant has departed the Premier League strugglers, another ex-Liverpool employee in Fabian Otte is expected to stay on as goalkeeping coach in Tottenham, despite the arrival of Tomislav Rogic in a similar role.

(Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

Heitinga has had a rather nomadic coaching career already

The nomadic nature of Heitinga’s coaching career continues, with the Dutchman having now left four different clubs in less than two years, either forcibly or of his own volition.

He departed West Ham along with David Moyes in May 2024 before leaving Liverpool for the Ajax head coach role a year later. Then came his swift dismissal in Amsterdam and his considerably shorter-lived association with Spurs.

The 42-year-old was involved with the north Londoners for a mere seven games, of which they won and drew two each and lost three, securing a direct passage to the last 16 in the Champions League but floundering domestically.

What’s next for Heitinga? Will he jump into a new job as quickly as he left his most recent one? Could he plausibly return to Anfield if – as Jamie Carragher has suggested – FSG keep faith in Slot for the foreseeable future.

Given his previous association with (and extensive knowledge of) the current coaching setup at Liverpool, it’s not unthinkable that he could be offered the opportunity to return to Merseyside, should he wish to do so.

The Reds aren’t actively looking to add to Slot’s backroom staff at present, but the volatile nature of the 42-year-old’s coaching career would suggest that the possibility of retracing his steps to L4 isn’t completely out of the queston.