The former player of Ajax, AZ, Feyenoord, FC Twente and Oranje, among others, was most recently active for Indonesia, where he worked with national coach Patrick Kluivert.
Ajax will first look for a technical director, only then will a new head coach follow
Ajax’s interest in Landzaat is not new. Technical director Alex Kroes already made an attempt to add the Amsterdammer to John Heitinga’s staff, but Landzaat had just been roped in by the Indonesian Football Association and decided to stay there. After Indonesia missed out on the World Cup, the collaboration ended.
Landzaat was previously an assistant under Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Jaap Stam at Feyenoord, under John van den Brom at Lech Poznan and under Ferencváros at Pascal Jansen. Between July 2021 and April 2022 he assisted Grim, who was then the trainer of Willem II and therefore knew Landzaat well.
Denny Landzaat ‘tactically strong assistant’
The 36-time international is described as a calm and pleasant boy and a tactically strong assistant. In the match at FC Utrecht, Grim had to make do with Paul Nuijten’s emergency bandage. The Ajax Under 19 coach only has experience as head of training and interim coach (one match) of the Scottish Queen’s Park, where he was brought by the current director of football Marijn Beuker.
Jordi Cruyff
Now that general manager Menno Geelen has announced that Grim will in principle stay on until a new technical director has been found, the interim coach needs a more experienced staff. It is now clear that Jordi Cruijff is in the picture to succeed Kroes, but Ajax still has several names on the list.