Ajax does not intend to attract new players for the time being. Erik ten Hag already indicated during Friday’s press conference that the club from Amsterdam will in principle no longer be active on the transfer market in the coming weeks, unless key players like André Onana and Nicolás Tagliafico leave unexpectedly. The Telegraph openly wonders whether such a position is wise.

The newspaper assures Monday that doubts have arisen ‘in and around the selection’ as to whether the selection is broad and polished enough to be able to perform optimally in all competitions. For example, an experienced left-legged defender, who is able to play centrally and as a left back, and a purified extra midfielder in the view of Ajax-watcher Mike Verweij would not be a superfluous luxury, referring to possible injuries or suspensions in footballers such as Daley Blind, Tagliafico and Ryan Gravenberch.

The management of Ajax camps according to The Telegraph with the dilemma of investing in new purchases or keeping a hand on the cut, partly because of the corona crisis. The newspaper openly wonders whether Ajax ‘allows itself to be dazzled’ by the almost flawless preparation and points out that the ‘fairly easy programme’ can lead to ‘a one hundred percent score’ until the end of the transfer market on 6 October.

Verweij points out that Ajax not only lost a mountain of experience, but also ‘a number of self-educated players, culture guards’. Only Blind, Gravenberch, Sergiño Dest, Noussair Mazraoui and Quincy Promes have ‘the Ajax DNA’ according to him. “But of those real Ajacids, only Blind is a leader.” He also points to last season’s overcrowded infirmary and the fact that Ajax flew out of the Europa League and the TOTO KNVB Cup in one week and lost a six-point lead on AZ.

“If Ajax becomes champion with the current group with two fingers in the nose and Ten Hag succeeds with his team in hibernating in the Champions League, then the policymakers have gambled, won (millions) and given space to their own youth. If things go wrong, then cheap has been expensive”, stressed Verweij Monday in the newspaper.