Ajax: Cruijff’s Technical Director Profile & Impact

• Frank Hettinga

  football editor

Jordi Cruijff officially starts at Ajax on Sunday. In his hometown, the technical director has the tough task of helping the club win prizes again.

But what does the former international actually stand for? What do the Amsterdammers gain in terms of football policy with the new TD with experience in Cyprus, Israel and Barcelona?

Cruijff’s greatest strength is cooperation, says Ton Caanen. About sixteen years ago they were jointly in charge of AEK Larnaca in Cyprus. Cruijff took his first steps there as a TD, Caanen was the trainer. “We did everything together.”

“Jordi watched the matches in the stands and saw, for example, where the space was on the field. He would come down at half time to say that. I then conveyed it to the group. And damn, it often worked.”

It is of course reminiscent of father Johan Cruijff who in 1980 descended from the stands in De Meer stadium and took a seat in the dugout next to trainer Leo Beenhakker to tell him what could be improved, much to the dismay of the Ajax coach – “maybe I should have hit him in the butt”.

Caanen didn’t mind at all. On the contrary. “Jordi left the tactics and the formation to me, but we discussed everything. That was our strength. Wouldn’t it be unwise not to use someone who knows so much about football? Many trainers live in a culture of fear. They find a director too close to the field frightening. But I think that is complete nonsense.”

“I like being a td, because I really like strategy,” Cruyff said in the podcast The Overlap. “Years ago I came to the conclusion that by buying good players you do not automatically have a good team. It’s about balance. It’s intuition, you have to be able to feel it. And I don’t know why, but I think I have a feeling for that,” said the former Barcelona and Manchester United footballer.

Caanen experienced up close how Cruijff did that at AEK – just promoted to the highest Cypriot level. “Jordi said: Ton, listen. We are getting a few Basques, who show character on the field, they will never let you down. A few Cypriots who can follow, a few Dutch for tactics and some Africans with technique.”

“We had a team in no time. And so we took a shot at everything. The cup, the competition. After many preliminary rounds, we reached the group stage of the Europa League,” says Caanen, now a consultant at a football agency and living in America.

Cruijff also achieved success afterwards in Israel, at Maccabi Tel Aviv. Before he took office, the club had not become champions for nine years. Maccabi won the title in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

At Barcelona in 2021 he found a club in financial need. First as a technical advisor, later as director. Lionel Messi had just left and Barça was struggling with a debt of 1.35 billion euros.

Although Cruijff did spend a lot of money on attackers such as Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha, he mainly acquired transfer-free players such as Andreas Christensen, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Ilkay Gündogan.

With the exception of Jules Koundé, still Barca’s regular right back, all defenders were transfer-free or self-trained. “We only spent money on midfielders and attackers,” said Cruyff. Partly thanks to the financial malaise, the focus turned to the youth academy, after which players such as Pedri, Gavi, Lamine Yamal, Fermín López and Pau Cubarsí were given the opportunity.

Caanen: “The youth academy is extremely important to him. He will provide a common thread, I think, with the right people in the right positions. That is an important task, in addition to making Ajax play recognizable football again.”

As far as youth are concerned, Ajax has already taken a big step before Cruijff’s arrival – also due to the lack of financial resources. Trainer Fred Grim frequently gives playing time to teenagers such as Aaron Bouwman, Jorthy Mokio, Sean Steur and Rayane Bounida.

Cruijff knows Ajax’s youth academy inside out, he played there until he was fourteen. “That is the heart of the club, that is what Ajax is known for,” he said when he signed his contract. “And it just has to stay that way.”

As a young teenager he left for Barcelona with his father Johan, and after his own football career he subsequently worked all over the world, as a coach but also as a trainer. From Cyprus to Israel and from China to Ecuador.

As a result, he is still relatively unknown in the Netherlands. What kind of man is he anyway? How would Caanen describe him? “Straightforward. Thoughtful. Smart. Jordi carefully chooses his words. He is honest. He never really seeks the spotlight. He also doesn’t really let people get close. But if he lets you, then you are also a friend for life. You know, he’s just a sweet man, haha.”

Yet, just like his father, Jordi has an edge. “You shouldn’t step on his tail. Yes is yes, and no is no. You shouldn’t say yes and then do something else afterwards. Then he’ll quickly be done with it. Jordi is not stubborn, but he is stubborn. If he is opposed from three or four sides, which causes things to become difficult, that he has to go through many organs to achieve things, that is not his cup of tea.”