Hedwiges Maduro does not know whether the away match against PSV on Sunday will be his last match as interim coach of Ajax. “I haven’t heard anything about that yet,” he said. “No, I don’t know whether I will return as an assistant to the new trainer. We have not discussed that yet. I am now completely focusing on the match against PSV. After that, we will see.”
Maduro led Ajax for the first time as interim coach during the lost away match against Brighton & Hove Albion (2-0) on Thursday. Before that, he was one of the assistants of Maurice Steijn, who left last Monday. Ajax is in discussions with John van ‘t Schip about the position of head coach for the rest of the season. The club will play a home game with FC Volendam on Thursday, the only formation that is below Ajax in the Eredivisie rankings.
Although Maduro has not yet officially heard from the club management, it is expected that he will return as assistant to the new head coach. “I certainly don’t think that is a problem,” he said. “I deliberately signed a three-season contract here to learn from an experienced head coach as an assistant coach. I don’t want to be the head coach of a big club at the moment. I am here to help Ajax. Everyone knows the situation we are in. Fortunately, people like Louis van Gaal and Danny Blind have been willing to repair the club. We have to ensure that Ajax starts performing on the field again.”
Next Sunday, Ajax will visit leader PSV. The Eindhoven team currently has the maximum score from nine matches and Ajax is in the penultimate place with only five points. The match in Eindhoven starts at 2:30 PM.