Daniel Bachmann is in the picture at Ajax as a replacement for André Onana, Duncan Castles reports in the The Transfer Windowpodcast. The 27-year-old goalkeeper of Watford, who was under the bar with Austria at the European Championship, is said to have already been approached by a representative of the team from Amsterdam. Ajax will only become concrete when Onana is sold.
A week and a half ago, Ajax already said goodbye to Kjell Scherpen, who has reportedly been sold to Brighton & Hove Albion for five million euros. “I have been told that Ajax has approached Daniel Bachmann with the question whether he is interested in replacing Scherpen and Onana,” British sports journalist Castles said in the podcast. “That’s one of the options they’re looking at to strengthen the goalkeeper base.”
Bachmann’s career is remarkable. The goalie was picked by Stoke City from Austria in 2011 at the age of 17. Bachmann failed to break through into the first team and played his games for Stoke’s U23 team for years. He also hardly played in the main squad at the smaller clubs to which he was loaned. In 2017, he was transferred from Stoke to Watford on a free transfer, to act as third goalkeeper in the first season and on loan to Kilmarnock the second year.
It wasn’t until January this year that Bachmann became Watford’s first goalkeeper in the Championship, winning the competition against Ben Foster. With Watford, the Austrian finished second in the league, securing promotion to the Premier League. The goalkeeper saw his successful six months be rewarded with his first call-up for the Austrian national team. He was surprisingly preferred over LASK’s Alexander Schlager and played all four European Championship matches of the Alpine country, including the one against the Netherlands (2-0 loss). Bachmann, who has only played 123 official club matches at the age of 27, is stuck at Watford until mid-2024.
Before Ajax gets a new goalkeeper, the transfer of Onana must first be completed. The Cameroonian, who has been suspended for doping use, is in the explicit interest of Olympique Lyon. According to The Telegraph an agreement is still a long way off, as Ajax requires ten million euros, while Lyon does not want to go further than three million euros. Castles believes both clubs will come out after all. “Onana’s preference is strongly for Lyon. The transfer fee has not yet been agreed, but Ajax is happy that Lyon is moving up to the amount they want.”