Maurits Hendriks seems to have been primarily responsible for the appointment of Sven Mislintat. Chief Sports Officer (CSO) has had an important role at Ajax after the departure of Edwin van der Sar.
This is evident from an article that the newspaper Trouw wrote in response to the book Ajax in crisis, by writer Menno de Galan. According to the morning newspaper, Hendriks dived into the hole that Van der Sar had left with his departure. “The ex-hockey coach appointed himself ‘process supervisor’ in the search for a foreign director of football affairs,” according to Trouw based on the book Ajax in crisis.
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“Hendriks strongly believes in data and wanted to make Ajax the most innovative club in the Netherlands. Through a headhunting agency he came across a German who, just like him, loved graphs and statistics. So he would not make impulse purchases but would approach it scientifically: Sven Mislintat.” The German has now already left the Johan Cruijff Arena, after a dramatic transfer summer.
The same applies to the trainer Maurice Steijn and Pier Eringa he appointed, but it will not stop there. “Hendriks’ days also seem to be numbered,” the newspaper said. He has reportedly been asked to leave a number of times, but for now he does not want to budge. Van der Sar would have liked to leave much earlier, but Leen Meijaard (Eringa’s predecessor as chairman of the Supervisory Board) persuaded him to stay longer.
