Head-over-heels-in-love De Telegraaf reveals 'the big secret' of Cruyff at Ajax

Mike Verweij has been lavish in his praise for the way Jordi Cruijff has gone about his work at Ajax this summer. According to the De Telegraaf club watcher, the technical director and his right-hand man, chief scout Joël Lara, are succeeding in building a squad with limited financial resources "that can seriously challenge for the league title".

For Verweij, one of the big secrets behind Cruijff's way of working is Lara's laptop. In Amsterdam, the pair have at times been watched with amazement, with Verweij saying they shut themselves away in an office from early morning until late at night, spending hours glued to a laptop or working the phones.

That laptop has turned out to be hugely important to Ajax's transfer strategy. Verweij writes the following literally about it: "In the 'treasure chamber', which Lara's laptop appears to be, the contract situation of virtually every player in Europe and South America is stored."

Because of that, Cruijff and Lara can move fast as soon as a bargain opportunity opens up. At his introduction to the Dutch press, Cruijff had already made clear how he wanted to approach the transfer market: "Those who are not financially strong must be quick or clever."

It worked perfectly with Julian Brandt. Cruijff spoke to the German as early as 1 April about a possible free transfer and eventually managed to bring him to Ajax, while De Telegraaf reports that several richer clubs and PSV were also interested.

Sofyan Amrabat's arrival had also been prepared quietly for months. Cruijff and Lara knew the Morocco international wanted to have his contract with Fenerbahçe terminated and deliberately kept their interest out of the public eye, meaning that according to the newspaper Ajax already had full control over the deal by the time the news broke.

So far, the method has delivered Ajax nine reinforcements, with transfer fees paid only for Marcos Leonardo, Caio Henrique and Viktor Tsygankov. Meanwhile, the club have sold, among others, Mika Godts, Sean Steur and Chuba Akpom, meaning that against €34.9 million in transfer fees paid, there is already more than €100 million in income.