Daley Blind is disappointed with his interim and much-discussed departure from Ajax. Bayern Munich’s winter acquisition thought about a life after his professional life in Amsterdam and even had conversations about it with then director of football affairs Marc Overmars. However, a difficult relationship with trainer Alfred Schreuder ended Blind’s second adventure at Ajax prematurely.
Blind thought he could end his career at Ajax. In the second instance, the defender (32) hoped to be able to stay on at least until the summer. So it became an interim exit from the Johan Cruijff Arena. “But it has come to the point that I was no longer even welcome at the club where I have walked around since I was seven”, the former Ajax player sighs in an extensive interview with the General Journal. “On December 26, the management said that they definitely did not want me at the restart of the training sessions on the 27th, and the contract was terminated. That was the end of a painful rollercoaster for weeks.”
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar: ‘Apparently that was the last straw for Daley Blind’
Fierce reaction to Huntelaar
Technical manager Klaas-Jan Huntelaar gave in The parole that Blind was already considering a departure from Ajax last season. He was whistled at the time and there was a call for Nicolás Tagliafico. The departed defender reacts strongly to that claim. Blind gave last weekend at the NOS already indicated that he would ‘come back to that in detail’. “He shouldn’t talk for me. That was not the last straw for me. The last straw was: being relegated from first choice to fourth choice. And that the trainer completely ignored me anyway after a collision at halftime against RKC (in October , ed.)”, said the surprised and disappointed Blind.
“Huntelaar puts me so against supporters. I immediately texted him that. Just as I also find it typical that Ajax is the first to go public, while a mutual penalty clause has been included in the dissolution agreement: I wouldn’t say anything about Ajax, they nothing about me. The club wanted that stipulation, didn’t it… “, Blind opens up about his last period as a contract player of Ajax. The veteran now feels free to state his side of the story and set a few things straight. “Because in my experience they say a lot about the lack of communication among people who are now at the helm at Ajax. Lack of leadership and empathy too.”
Collision with Schreuder
According to Blind, the collision during the away game with RKC has destroyed a lot in his relationship with Schreuder. “Schreuder started at half-time about the fact that our pressure was not going well. That had to change. ‘What do you think?’, he asked a few attackers. ‘What do you prefer?’, because English is the working language. I am then got up and said out loud in that dressing room: trainer, be clear and you decide how we are going to implement it! There was emotion and his reaction was just as fierce: ‘You shut up! Shut your mouth and sit down!'” , Blind was told by the angry coach. The left back decided to keep his mouth shut and was later told by fellow players that he had not gone too far.
Surprised Blind responds to Huntelaar: ‘Not quite the way it went’
After the collision against RKC, Blind got the idea that Schreuder ignored him. “From important player to completely ignored.” A week later, on November 1, Blind was benched for tactical reasons in the Champions League game against Rangers. My response was: I don’t agree, but you are the boss. In that match, Wijndal, who played in my place, got injured. I was already getting ready, but then it turned out that Rensch was coming in. I went from being passed as number 1 to third choice.” To his surprise, Blind did not play in the top match against PSV a few days later. In his eyes, Schreuder makes an incomprehensible choice for the left back position.
“It is true that my face is not happy then, just as I was not happy after Rangers. And if it also turns out that positions are shifted in the match against PSV and Bassey comes left back, you are from left back number 1 to number 4. And completely ignored for weeks,” Blind grumbles more than two months later. According to Schreuder, these were tactical choices and nothing personal. After much insistence, the Ajax coach acknowledged that he had to make a statement in the direction of Blind after the incident against RKC.
Schreuder’s lie?
It General Journal points out that Blind must have spoken to Schreuder about a possible reserve role prior to the season, certainly also because of the ten million euros that had been deposited for Wijndal. “Schreuder says that this has been discussed, I read. A pertinent lie. In the summer, also at training camp, he indicated that he thought I was such an important pawn. And for several positions. Left central back, left back and left midfielder”, reminds Blind. “Let me be clear, I have no doubt that it became personal after RKC. I am convinced.”
Schreuder did not say goodbye to Daley Blind and is very disappointed with himself
The defender also stings that all World Cup visitors received a personal message from Schreuder and Blind did not. “All Ajax players a congratulations app from the trainer, except me. And when I came to say goodbye to the Toekomst on December 27, I shook hands not only with the players but also with staff members. Traveler, Witschge, you name them. Only I did not see Schreuder, while he knew I was there, because the time that I was allowed to come had been agreed with Ajax”, the departed flank player assures, who had requested a meeting with the management to discuss the future. However, Blind is disappointed that the management of Ajax did nothing to keep him for the club.
Disappointed in Ajax leadership
“No attempt has been made by the management to bring the parties together. Zero. Rather the opposite happened: they quickly blamed me for wanting to leave myself. I got the feeling that it suited them. ” Blind was allowed to leave on a free transfer if he found a new club before January 1. Finally, the Bayern player comes up with a revelation. Due to his heart problems, he lost a lot of salary and was given a shorter contract, which ran until mid-2023. “An option year has been made from one year. Marc Overmars said: ‘It’s great that you think along, Daley. We’re going to set up that option in such a way that you can meet those conditions, if you get back to normal fitness’.”
“I also had verbal agreements with Overmars about the time after my playing career”, Blind emphasizes once again. “That they would offer me to discover the coaching profession within Ajax. Now that it escalated so much with Overmars’ successors, it also became purely business from our side: I had almost reached that actual bonus year, so that was included in the dissolution.” , said Blind, who is happy that he can make a new and fresh start at Bayern.