Ajax fans ruthless after enormous blunder: 'This man has no future at the club'

Joeri Heerkens made another painful mistake for Jong Ajax on Monday evening. The goalkeeper looked particularly unfortunate for Jong FC Utrecht’s opening goal and has come in for a flood of criticism on social media.

After 12 minutes, Wessel Kooy headed a free-kick towards the Amsterdam goal. Heerkens should have dealt with it comfortably, but let the ball slip through his hands and over the line: 1-0.

That latest error, after also making a mistake last month, triggered a huge reaction from Ajax supporters. "Another blunder. And he just keeps getting picked," one post on X read, while another supporter drew a painful conclusion: "I do not see a future Ajax first-team keeper here."

On Ajax Showtime the responses were just as ruthless. "They would be better off sending Heerkens back. He's no good and never will be," one supporter wrote, while another asked: "How many more blunders is he allowed to make?" Another fan was equally clear: "Why is that guy even still in the starting XI?"

Much of that anger comes from the fact Heerkens had already made several glaring mistakes earlier this season. At the start of August, he completely misjudged a shot from Martin Vetkal for Jong Ajax against FC Dordrecht, just six days after seeing a back-pass from Youri Baas end up in the net via himself for the first team against FC Volendam.

Ajax signed the 20-year-old goalkeeper from Sparta Prague for up to €3.5 million amid high expectations. "Onana also made mistakes for Jong, but you could really see the quality there. I just don’t see it with Heerkens," read one of the telling reactions on Ajax Showtime.