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Ajax director Edwin van der Sar realizes that it will be a hard job to shape a squad that is good enough to perform at Champions League level each year. Last summer, important players like Matthijs de Ligt, Frenkie de Jong and Lasse Schöne left Ajax and Van der Sar expects a lot of interest from big clubs in Ajax-players coming summer as well.
‘People can see that we’re constantly working to keep the team together’ says Van der Sar in de Telegraaf. He continues: ‘It’s not easy to do that since there is a constant interest in some of our players from clubs and agents. Nonetheless, we succeeded to extend the contracts of Nicolas Tagliafico, André Onana, Hakim Ziyech, Donny van der Beek and David Neres. At the same time, we try to improve the squad by buying the right players. I think we managed to do that with the transfers of Quincy Promes and Lisandro Martinez for example.’
‘Our team outside of the pitch, with Marc Overmars, Susan Lenderink and Menno Geleen, is also a strong one. The team spirit within the boardroom was one of the bigger reasons for me to stay at Ajax. You can only be successful if you have the right people around you. That’s the same both on as off the field.’
Ajax wants to become a part of the European top for a longer period and aims to do that with a fair amount of youth players according to Van der Sar. ‘I’m excited to see Sergiño Dest play in our first squad and to see players like Noa Lang, Jurgen Ekkelenkamp and Ryan Gravenberch making their minutes as well. These lads have to make steps in their development this year because we’ll need them next year since we will lose some important players again coming summer. Of course, we can buy replacements for the ones leaving but it’s not a guarantee that they will be a success. Therefore, it’s important to give youth players a chance’.
Edwin van der Sar extended his contract at Ajax till 2023 last week. You can read everything about how the former world-class goalkeeper changed into a key figure of a reborn Ajax in this article.