Ajax see first bid rejected; asking price is €13 million

Ajax received a response from Osasuna on Monday evening to their opening bid for Enzo Boyomo, AS reports. The Amsterdam club offered to take the 24-year-old Cameroon international on loan for the rest of the season with an option to buy. Osasuna rejected that proposal straight away, however, because the LaLiga club will only cooperate with a permanent sale.

Osasuna signed Boyomo from Real Valladolid two years ago for €5.5 million and now want to make a significant profit on his departure. They are looking for a fee a little above half of his €25 million release clause. Given that the nine-cap international has not played a single minute in LaLiga this season, a departure from Pamplona is open for discussion.

Should he move to Amsterdam, Boyomo would link up with Míchel Sánchez, who knows him well from Spain, where the defender has been playing for six years.

After the match against Telstar, the Ajax head coach had already spoken openly about the need for defensive reinforcements. The departures of Ko Itakura, Josip Sutalo and Ahmetcan Kaplan have left a major void at the back.

Only the experienced Daley Blind has strengthened Ajax's defence so far this summer. Míchel stressed at the press conference that players still need to be added in several areas. "I think we still need a winger, a centre-back and possibly a midfielder," the coach said.

In particular, Ajax want another option on the right side of central defence alongside the young Aaron Bouwman. Míchel pointed out that his team sometimes lack a bit of experience in the build-up in important situations. "It may be that we need more experience in some matches," the Spanish coach indicated.