AZ and Owen Wijndal have reached an oral agreement on an extension of the defender’s contract, reports The Telegraph Friday morning. The 22-year-old captain, whose contract expired next summer, is now fixed for a year longer until mid-2024. The new contract means good news for AZ, which could request a significant transfer fee for the left back in the event of a possible departure next summer.
Wijndal is expected to leave AZ next summer. After the departure of Teun Koopmeiners, Myron Boadu, Calvin Stengs and Marco Bizot, the captain has emerged as the most important link within the team of trainer Pascal Jansen and has already screened with interest from Ajax. The fact that he will now extend his contract for another year ensures that he will not leave for a reduced rate this summer. Transfermarkt currently estimates its value at twelve million euros.
Last summer, AZ already took into account a departure from Wijndal, but despite his European Championship participation with the the Dutch, no interested club passed that he would like to go to. In addition, he was appointed new captain after Koopmeiners left for Atalanta. Wijndal made his comeback in the autumn in the pre-selection of the Dutch national team and is now again part of the provisional selection corps of national coach Louis van Gaal. It will be announced on Friday whether he also belongs to the final selection.
Wijndal is a boy of the club and went through the entire youth academy of AZ, where he made his official debut against PSV in February 2017 in the absence of Ridgeciano Haps and Thomas Ouwejan. The counter now stands at 193 matches in professional football, of which 59 in Jong AZ and 134 in the first. He managed to score six times and was good for 30 assists. In addition, he came to eleven international matches. Van Gaal is expected to include him in the squad for the World Cup in Qatar.
Related
More sports news