Ajax goalkeeper Andre Onana has urged Matthijs de Ligt to follow Frenkie de Jong to Barcelona in the near future. De Jong recently penned a pre-contract with Barcelona over a summer move and there has since been strong speculation linking De Ligt with a reunion with the Netherlands international.
Ajax chief executive Edwin van der Sar has spoken about the ambition of keeping hold of goalkeeper Andre Onana amid the ongoing interest from Barcelona. The Cameroonian keeper graduated through the La Masia academy before making the switch to Amsterdam and he has been theclub’s first-choice shot-stopper over the past two-and-a-half seasons.
Amidst this, Onana has been touted for a probable return to the Camp No in January but Van der Sar has appeared to rebuff the speculation by citing that the club are planning to keep their main players for the long-term, he said: “Also He was in a rush to play first-team football quickly, but I think the level that he composed himself and that first year, playing straight away the Europa League final was a great start.
“Last year was a difficult season but this year again he has proven to be extremely valuable for the team and besides that, he is a great guy. We develop great players, not only in Amsterdam but hopefully also in Cape Town and there is interest in a lot of our players, but we like to keep them for as long as possible. I think there are always a lot of rumours about players from Ajax.”
Barcelona are currently comfortably placed with Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Jasper Cillessen performing the roles of first-choice and second-choice goalkeepers respectively. However, the latter of those two could part ways with the club during the winter period with his quest to regular game time for both club and country.Owing to this, Onana has been highlighted as a potential option but judging by the comments made by Van der Sar, Ajax remain determined to ward off any interest when the transfer window reopens. Ajax have made a positive start to the campaign with 11 wins from the opening 13 matches but they are still six points off table-toppers and reigning champions PSV Eindhoven, who have made the perfect start to the season.
Ajax’s new coach Erik Ten Hag has just completed his first training session at his new club. After being appointed only a few weeks ago, Erik Ten Hag is expected to change the club’s near term vision. The club recently had a clear out of the managerial staff after they did not stick in line with the philosophy of the club. Ten Hag comes to the job with a relatively decent coaching career in but not at the very top of the game. He has been in charge of Utrecht before coming to Ajax, but he says that he has learned a lot from working with Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich.
Ten Hag hopes to implement the lessons learned from the best in the business the Dutch outfit. The 47-year-old has replaced Marcel Keizer and will be hoping to make a major impact in the second half of the Dutch Eredivisie. Ten Hag has spoken at length about the way Guardiola has shaped his tactical approach and knowledge about the game. Regarded as one of the best managers in the world, Guardiola spent three years at the Allianz Arena, while Ten Hag was placed in charge of the Bayern Munich reserve team. Ten Hag is expected to be backed by a couple of signings, but the manager is not sure about the possibility of spending money in the January window.
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