Fledderus (pictured at a TransferRoom Summit) had been in the position for four years but leaves the Dutch top-flight side following a mid-season review and the closure of the Winter Transfer Window.

The 40-year-old joined Groningen from Heracles Almelo, where he had been Technical Director.

He had played for both clubs during his career.

Wouter Gudde, General Manager of Groningen, said: “We are constantly talking to each other to see what is and what is not going well. This is also the case after the Transfer Window has ended. For us, the conclusion was that there is insufficient confidence and perspective to continue the collaboration. We find that extremely annoying, because we owe Mark-Jan a lot of thanks. He helped us a lot in a financially very difficult phase of the club with very good transfers. He absolutely deserves those credits.”

Fledderus added: “Everything I have done at the club has been for one purpose only: serving the interests of FC Groningen. I am a fighter and a brawler and never give up, but I also understand that at some point the outcome may be that you break up. I am always competitive and still had the ambition to help FC Groningen against the wind, but unfortunately it ends here for me. FC Groningen will always be special to me, that was also the reason I came here in 2019. I sincerely wish everything and everyone at the club the very best for the future.”

New SC Heerenveen Head of Scouting Kenneth Zandvliet

Meanwhile, fellow Eredivisie club SC Heerenveen have named Kenneth Zandvliet as their new Head of Scouting.

The 56-year-old has spent the past four seasons as an international scout for Chelsea FC and succeeds Peter Maas, who has joined NAC Breda as Technical Director.

Zandvliet's focus at Chelsea was on players in the 17 to 23 age bracket, and before his time with the English giants he gained scouting experience with Go Ahead Eagles and FC Twente.

Ferry de Haan, Technical Director at Heerenveen, said: “Kenneth is very experienced with scouting and player evaluation. We look forward to his contribution to the further development of the scouting team. He has gained a lot of experience at the absolute top and we can of course use this knowledge.”