Jordi Cruyff has made his first big move back at Ajax, and it’s one nobody was expecting.
Miguel Angel Sanchez Muñoz, better known as Michel, will be the team’s head coach next season.
Michel was long identified as one of the best up-and-coming coaches, taking City Group-owned Girona into the Champions League.
However, things dropped off considerably over the past two seasons, culminating in LaLiga relegation.
Cruyff, who joined at Ajax director of football in December, has clearly seen enough from Michel’s early promise to take the risk.
According to AD, the 50-year-old is already in Amsterdam to put pen-to-paper on a two-year deal.
Michel also has some Ajax experience himself, having coached Daley Blind and Donny van de Beek in Spain.
Big problems at Ajax
Ajax have been in trouble when it comes to coaching for the past few seasons and haven’t settled on a manager since Erik ten Hag’s departure.
They showed a brief improvement under Francisco Farioli in the 2024/25 season, but a later Eredivisie title collapse saw him leave for FC Porto.
John Heitinga started the season, but was sacked, as was interim Fred Grim.
Youth team coach Oscar Garcia was then named yet another interim, and managed to get the team in the Conference League after a fifth-place league finish.
There’s still plenty of room for improvement at Ajax, though, with striker Wout Weghorst giving a brutal end of season audit.
“It should be clear that the season didn’t go as it should have,” he commented.
“I also hope that this serves as a lesson for everyone at the club, that you do not achieve success this way. The people responsible for this must learn from it.
“It is very important to focus on the long term, on structure, and on stability.
“Looking only at the short term is dangerous if you want to safeguard the continuity of the club.”
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