Ajax line up 35-year-old Francesco Farioli as new head coach

Ajax are close to appointing Francesco Farioli as their new head coach as the club looks to rebuild after a disastrous season.

The Telegraaf reported that the Amsterdammers were ready to offer the 35-year-old Italian a three-year contract to succeed Maurice Steijn, who left in October with the club at the bottom of the Eredivisie.

Farioli has never played the game at professional level, but has made an impact during his short managerial career in Turkey and with French top flight side Nice.

He was approached by head of scouting Kelvin de Lang and director of football Marijn Beuker after Ajax’s first choices – former boss Erik ten Hag, now at Manchester United, and former Chelsea manager Graham Potter – turned the job down.

The Cote d’Azur-based club are said to be prepared to negotiate a compensation deal for Farioli once the league season finishes next weekend.

Attacking philosophy

Farioli was not an obvious choice for a club that said it wanted to appoint an experienced “preferably Dutch” coach with “Ajax DNA” to steady the ship after a turbulent season.

But he is said to have impressed Ajax’s technical staff with his training methods, his work ethic and attacking philosophy.

Farioli cites Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola and former Ajax legend Johan Cruyff as his inspirations. He studied philosophy and sports science at the University of Florence and was a goalkeeping coach in Italy before beginning his managerial career in the Turkish Super League at the age of 31.

He will be in the spotlight from day one at the Johan Cruyff Arena, where fans will expect rapid progress after a season in which they fell well short of expectations.

Conflict of interest

Maurice Steijn quit in October after managing just two wins in his 12 competitive matches, while rivals and eventual champions PSV won their first nine league games.

The club also sacked director of football Sven Mislintat amid allegations of a conflict of interest over his signing of players, though a subsequent investigation concluded he had done nothing wrong.

Former player John van ‘t Schip took the reins after Steijn’s departure until the end of the season and steered the club to a fifth-placed finish, its lowest position for 24 years.

Ajax suffered a further setback in March when new CEO Alex Kroes was forced to step down when it emerged he had bought shares in the club a week before his appointment was made public.

The club’s supervisory board moved to sack Kroes after taking legal advice that said he had “likely engaged in insider trading”, sparking an outcry among shareholders.

Kroes accepted the newly created role of technical director, but his share deal is under investigation by the Dutch financial regulator AFM and the club says it will reconsider his position if he is found to have broken the rules.