Graham Potter ‘REJECTS crisis-hit Ajax’, as former Chelsea boss turns down Jordan Henderson’s club, who lost 6-0 to rivals  Feyenoord, look set to miss out on the Champions League and face scandal over suspended CEO

Graham Potter has reportedly turned down the chance to become Ajax’s new head coach.

The former Brighton and Chelsea manager, 48, was in talks with the Amsterdam club over a return to management and was a top candidate.

Potter has been out of a job since being sacked by Chelsea last April after a difficult seven-month spell at Stamford Bridge.

However, Sky Sports News report that he is not interested in taking the Ajax job at the end of the season if interim boss John van ‘t Schip steps down.

Ajax’s nightmare season reached new depths when they were defeated 6-0 by arch-rivals Feyenoord on Sunday, their heaviest Eredivisie defeat ever.

Ajax suffered their heaviest Eredivisie defeat ever as rival Feyenoord defeated them 6-0

Ajax was looking for a permanent boss, while John van ‘t Schip is currently interim responsible

The club is in turmoil and sits a lowly sixth in the table, with Van ‘t Schip taking interim management of the team when Maurice Steijn was sacked at the end of October after a poor start to the season.

Potter has been linked to Manchester United as a potential summer replacement for Erik ten Hag should the Dutch coach be sacked.

Potter worked with incoming United sporting director Dan Ashworth while at Brighton.

He is known to have turned down offers to take charge of Lyon and the Swedish national team.

Sunday’s humiliation leaves Ajax 33 points behind Eredivisie leader PSV Eindhoven and the Conference League offers the only hope of European football next season.

The defeat came days after Ajax suspended their new CEO Alex Kroes following ‘indications that he was guilty of insider trading’.

Kroes was appointed by the Dutch team last summer, but could only start his position in Amsterdam last month due to contract complications at previous club AZ Alkmaar.

Ajax released a statement on Tuesday morning saying that it had learned that Kroes had purchased more than 17,000 shares in a week before he was to be appointed at the beginning of August last year. It added that it “indicates that he likely engaged in insider trading.”

Ajax suspends new CEO Alex Kroes after accusing him of ‘insider trading’

English midfielder Jordan Henderson signed for Ajax from Al-Ettifaq in January

Ajax – which has already suffered a wave of dismal results, fan protests and two dismissals, said it plans to permanently terminate his contract – insisting his position is now ‘untenable’.

Ajax have already endured a nightmare season in which they sacked Steijn as manager after a disastrous run of results in October, which left them in the Eredivisie relegation zone with just five points – their worst run since 1954.

There was anger among fans and protests when a match against Feyenoord in September was abandoned after flares and fireworks were thrown onto the pitch with the team 3-0 down.

Just a few hours later, chairman of the supervisory board Pier Eringa stepped down from his position after six months.

Ajax’s loss in De Kuip was the biggest in that match and the worst since the creation of the Eredivisie

Just days earlier, director of football Sven Mislintat was sacked after just 129 days in the job following a number of poor signings last summer.

Ajax were also dumped out of the Dutch Cup by minnows USV Hercules – an amateur side with students on their team – in one of the most incredible results in the country’s football history.

Ajax were defeated 4–0 by Aston Villa to exit the Conference League at the last-16 stage, having dropped out of the Europa League’s third European competition.