The appointment of the 40-year-old raised some eyebrows due to Heitinga’s history with Everton, where he made 140 appearances as a player and won the club’s Player of the Year award in 2011/12. However, Heitinga seems to have distanced himself from his Everton allegiances, as evidenced by his banter with Liverpool’s striker during training.

Heitinga joined Sean Dyche’s side in the summer along with first-team individual development coach Aaron Briggs. Slot, who explained their additions in July, stated that both have worked in the Premier League, with Aaron bridging the gap between the youth academy and the first team due to his analyst background.

Currently, Dyche’s team sits at the bottom of the early-season table after three successive defeats and faces a challenging task away to Aston Villa this weekend. Dyche finds himself under pressure, with talks of a potential takeover by John Textor adding speculation over his future.

Despite this, Dyche stated that his contract is the least of his concerns at the moment and that it will sort itself out one way or another. He emphasized that the new owner, if there were to be one, would be interested in knowing the current situation and what’s happening, rather than immediately discussing contracts.