Sven Mislintat fired after Ajax’s dramatic start to the season after four months | Dutch football

Mislintat officially started on May 19 as the long-awaited successor to Marc Overmars at Ajax. The management emphasizes that the termination of the collaboration is separate from the investigation announced last Wednesday by an external forensic firm of accountants.

“Various attempts to restore broader support have not led to the desired result and this is leading to unrest in and around the club, also due to the disappointing performances,” says Jan van Halst, interim director at Ajax. “Sven has put in a lot of effort for Ajax in recent months, and we are grateful to him for that. It is now in the interest of the club to find the sporting path back up as quickly as possible with united forces.”

Ajax is fourteenth in the Premier League, with five points from five games and already ten points behind shared leaders PSV and AZ. This is the result of four matches without a win. After draws against Excelsior and Fortuna Sittard, coach Maurice Steijn’s team was played upside down against Twente. The Classic against arch-rival Feyenoord was an even bigger low point. When the score was 3-0 with the reigning national champions, the cracker was finally stopped.

Interim director Van Halst did not want to anticipate possible dismissals after peace had somewhat returned around the Johan Cruijff Arena. It was clear then that Ajax already wanted to get rid of Mislintat. The German was already missing from the stadium, just like against Olympique Marseille on Thursday (3-3), at the request of the club management. This was decided after it emerged that Mislintat had done business with a player management that participated in his own data company in his last of twelve incoming transfers last summer, that of Borna Sosa. Victimizing him on that basis, however, turned out not to be possible quickly and easily.

Mislintat was appointed as Ajax’s new football director in mid-May, fourteen months after Overmars resigned as a result of ‘transgressive’ behavior. The German has worked for Westfalia Herne (assistant coach), Borussia Dortmund (head scout), Arsenal (head scout) and VfB Stuttgart (sporting director) over the past twenty years. Six months after his departure from the Bundesliga club, he was appointed by general manager Edwin van der Sar and was given the task of renovating the selection and also significantly reducing the salary structure.

Under Van der Sar, who was assisted in technical policy by Gerry Hamstra and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Ajax could not prevent a disastrous season. Despite huge investments in the playing group, the ambitious club finished without a Champions League ticket for the first time in five years, thirteen points behind champion Feyenoord and six points behind PSV, which was also too strong in the cup final.

Mislintat was the first to choose a new trainer. Maurice Steijn became the successor to interim coach John Heitinga, the club icon who succeeded the dismissed Alfred Schreuder in January. This became known on Sunday, June 11, shortly after Steijn had lost the final of the play-offs to FC Twente with Sparta. Two days later, Mislintat labeled Steijn as an ‘overperformer’ during his performance in Amsterdam after his impressive sixth place with Sparta last season, but the marriage between Mislintat and Steijn became a very short and unhappy one.

After the 0-0 draw at Fortuna Sittard, Mislintat really regretted that choice for the first time, when Steijn publicly expressed his frustrations about the director’s purchasing policy. Before the match, the German had argued for giving Steijn time to build a successful team from the late-formed selection. Mislintat raked in more than 150 million euros by selling several basic players who wanted to leave. He again spent around 110 million on twelve purchases, with several – unknown – players from the second level and the transfer-free Branco van den Boomen as the only Dutchman.

Sven Mislintat’s purchases at Ajax

However, the resident of The Hague felt that Mislintat had taken a too solo approach and ‘had to see how good the purchases were’. Very turbulent weeks followed in the capital, with Mislintat also increasingly losing out on Steijn in terms of sport and the head coach trying to protect his own position several times at the expense of the German. The coach also felt that Mislintat wanted to fire him, because he had already internally promoted D-Day on the day of the meeting with Feyenoord.

This Sunday the bomb also exploded at Ajax. First with the canceled Classic and the disturbances outside the stadium, followed by Mislintat’s lightning-quick dismissal tonight. This afternoon, Steijn did not respond to several questions from ESPN reporter Hans Kraaij – for a change – about Mislintat. “I don’t want to go into that now. That may come next week,” said Steijn, about whom doubts within the Ajax club management have also grown considerably in recent weeks.

Steijn remains confident for the time being and will be on the bench on Wednesday evening (9 p.m.) when Ajax plays Volendam again in its own stadium. The matches against RKC Waalwijk (away), AEK Athene (away) and AZ (home) are also awaited for the international match in October.