Ajax saw in Heerkens a future first goalkeeper. The Amsterdammers paid €2.0M for the nineteen-year-old goalkeeper of Sparta Prague. Former technical director Alex Kroes said: "We believe that he can develop himself excellently at Ajax and have confidence that he can grow into the position of first goalkeeper in the long term." A year ago, that was still logical. Heerkens became European champion with Orange Under 19 and made an impression on others, including Dies Janse, who played with him at the EC. "He just keeps a lot of balls away", described Janse his teammate at the time.
But now the situation is completely different. Heerkens is under pressure at Ajax. Not because two mistakes in six days made a twenty-year-old goalkeeper immediately disposable, but especially because the competition in Amsterdam has increased enormously. With Marc-André ter Stegen, Maarten Paes and Paul Reverson in front of him, Heerkens is threatened with a season where he has to fight for every minute.
Heerkens got the chance to get into the rhythm of the game at Jong Ajax against FC Dordrecht, but let a decent shot from Martin Vetkal go through early. Six days earlier, he had also played an unlucky part in a counterattack during the friendly match with FC Volendam. Two games, two big mistakes. The timing can hardly be worse.
Heerkens was last season quite well performed at Jong Ajax. The youth exponent of Sparta Prague kept nineteen competitive games and kept four clean sheets. His underlying statistics were also clearly better than those of his main competitor Paul Reverson. Heerkens stopped relatively many shots and did it statistically on several occasions better than Reverson.
But the algorithm of FootballTransfers inspects Reverson currently just a bit higher. The differences are small, but that makes the competition between both keepers just interesting. Their Potential shows that both goalkeepers have enough talent to be of value in the Eredivisie in the long term.
The biggest problem for Heerkens is not even his form. It is the huge file that has arisen in front of him. With the arrival of Ter Stegen, Ajax has brought in a clear first goalkeeper. Paes, who made minutes last season and was important during the play-offs for European football, normally shifts to the role of second goalkeeper.
Behind that begins the discussion. For Heerkens, the third place is particularly important. If he becomes third goalkeeper, he will remain close to Ajax 1 and can also make minutes at Jong Ajax if possible. If he loses the competition with Reverson, a problem will arise. Heerkens is now twenty. A full season as fourth goalkeeper, with El Hani who also needs playing minutes at Jong Ajax, will hardly help his development.
Ajax does not need to draw a line through Heerkens after two bad moments. He is too young and the investment was too conscious. Moreover, he was statistically just fine at Jong Ajax last season. But the coming months must also clearly show where his development can be best continued. Ter Stegen is only on loan and therefore the situation can change completely again next year. Heerkens is also still tied until mid-2030. Ajax has time. But development requires games in the end. If Reverson overtakes him and Heerkens hardly gets to play, a loan period may be much more logical in the long term than sitting out every week as third or fourth goalkeeper.
