In 2020, even before the stabbing incident in Abcoude, the police had conversations with Quincy Promes about his contacts in the criminal environment, Jeroen Stekelenburg reported on Sunday evening during a broadcast of Studio Football† According to the reporter of the NOS General manager Edwin van der Sar was also present at one of these conversations. “Ajax must have known that something was going on,” said Stekelenburg.
“There were some indications”, is the answer from Stekelenburg when he is asked by presenter Sjoerd van Ramshorst to what extent Ajax was aware that Promes was going astray. “Ajax is one of the clubs, there are several clubs that conduct so-called awareness conversations. That is in a general sense and they do it with the entire selection to ensure that they inform footballers as well as possible. You are vulnerable, young and suddenly have a lot of money, so you are suddenly very attractive in a certain environment to make contact with.”
According to Stekelenburg, such conversations are also more targeted. “The police sometimes spot players who they think have contacts in the wrong environment,” says the table guest at Studio Football† “That also happened with Quincy Promes in 2020, even before the stabbing incident. General director of Ajax, Edwin van der Sar, was also present at one of those conversations. Ajax must have known that something was going on. Of course, no one could know that it was so bad when you hear what has come out this week.”
news hour released transcripts of telephone conversations last week in which Promes confessed in multiple conversations with his family that he wanted to stab his cousin to death in July 2020. The Telegraph then reported on Friday that Promes was being wiretapped because he is suspected of involvement in drug trafficking and participation in a criminal organization. However, Stekelenburg does not want to create the impression that Ajax knew about all criminal activities. “Well, it depends to what extent,” he says. “We should not create the impression that Ajax could have seen that stabbing coming. But it is clear that Promes surrounded himself with figures of whom Ajax thought: we would rather not have that.
Erik ten Hag reacted to the latest developments on Friday evening after the game against SC Cambuur (2-3 win). The trainer said he was “deeply saddened” by the situation in which Promes “has become entangled”. The NOS reporter interrupted Ten Hag by stating that ‘it does not just happen that your phone is tapped’. “Are you aware of that? This is what the NOS says, but I am waiting for the judge’s verdict,” Ten Hag responded. “I don’t know how the NOS knows. I don’t think the NOS is the judiciary.” Van der Vaart thinks the statements “appear very strange and stupid”. “Everyone knows what happened. Then the phone taps come in. That doesn’t just make the news. Then you can react very differently than he does now.”
Van Hooijdonk makes the comparison with Ten Hag’s reaction to an interview that Dusan Tadic recently gave about Marc Overmars’ transgressive behavior. According to Ten Hag, Tadic’s statements were not properly translated into Dutch at the time, giving the impression that the situation at Ajax did not interest him. “The NOS had already done it then. Ten Hag expressed himself fantastically with regard to the transgressive behaviour, but when you hear this, you are alienated from reality.”