Verweij knows more about Ajax’s search for a replacement for Godts: ‘Cruyff is saying internally that...’

Ajax are pushing hard to sign a left winger, but they do not want to overpay, Mike Verweij reports in the Kick-off podcast of De Telegraaf. The names of Noa Lang and Sami Ouaissa are doing the rounds in Amsterdam.

"If Noa Lang really has to cost 25 million: Ajax are really not going to pay that," Verweij says. Turkish media have been circulating rumours of a €15 million fee.

Verweij is not convinced Noa Lang is Cruijff's first choice. "They have many more options. Lang is a Dutchman abroad, but they also find a lot of players in the Netherlands very interesting."

As for Ouaissa, De Telegraaf's Ajax watcher says Cruijff will not pay over the odds. "What you hear is that Cruijff is simply not planning to overpay for players. They think Ouaissa of NEC is a very decent player, but not worth 8 or 10 million. Feyenoord do think he is worth that, but do not have any money at the moment."

Internally, Cruijff is apparently saying there are much better players available in Spain for far less money. "And apparently Cruyff is saying internally that in Spain there are simply much better players available for much less money. So I hope he ultimately brings in a very good left and right winger, with depth, pace and a bit of the goalscoring and assist ability of Mika Godts."

Verweij also cast doubt on how seriously Ajax are considering Lang. "Noa Lang is armchair scouting. He would also deliver at Ajax, everyone knows what he can do, but I do not know whether he is the first choice."

Danjuma's name has come up too, but Verweij says there is nothing in it for now. "I saw Danjuma's name come up and saw that our colleagues at Eindhovens Dagblad had debunked that PSV had interest. I also made enquiries with Ajax. At the moment, and never say never, there is absolutely no question of it. It often happens that if two such clubs are mentioned, it seems as if the player is being put on the market by the agent for a moment," the Ajax watcher concludes.