Erik ten Hag sees no reason for the time being to remove keeper Remko Pasveer from the Ajax team. After all, André Onana is training with the A-selection again, partly because Maarten Stekelenburg is out for the rest of the season due to injuries. The Cameroonian, who can return to action from November 4 after a doping suspension, has been training with Young Ajax since the beginning of September.
“André joins in, but at the moment Remko is our first man”, emphasized Ten Hag after the scoreless draw against Heracles Almelo (0-0). “I think a club like Ajax needs a good goalkeeper team. When there are gaps, you need to take action and bring together the best players available. Then they fight it out together.”
Pasveer’s good performances in recent weeks have ensured that the veteran has an edge over Onana. “I am very happy with him at the moment. If he continues these achievements, he will be number one.” Onana’s return has been a point of discussion between him and director of football affairs Marc Overmars. “Obviously, then we discussed it together and ultimately made a well-considered choice,” emphasized the Ajax trainer.
Pasveer was informed by Ten Hag about the return of Onana. “I said that given the current situation of the club, that is very understandable, with the loss of Maarten Stekelenburg,” the veteran responded on Saturday. “We have to keep the level of goalkeeping as high as possible. For me it is the task to just do my job and then the choice is up to the trainer.”
Onana was tested positive for furosemide in a doping control in October last year. It earned him a one-year suspension in February, which was reduced to nine months on appeal. Last summer Ajax attracted two new goalkeepers with Pasveer and Jay Gorter. Stekelenburg was still the first goalkeeper, but he was injured in September and Pasveer has been the first goalkeeper ever since. Later it turned out that Stekelenburg had to have surgery on his hip and will be sidelined for the entire season.
Onana, who has been associated with Ajax since 2014, was the first goalkeeper from mid-2017 until his suspension. The goalkeeper from Cameroon seemed to move from Amsterdam in the past transfer period, but a transition did not occur. Overmars previously announced that the role of 25-year-old Onana, who will run out of his contract after this season, had been played out at Ajax. That was because both parties could not agree on a new contract.
Partly because of Stekelenburg’s long-term injury, Overmars is now coming back to that. “It was clear to us that André would make a transfer last summer. That did not happen and so he is still under contract with us. My position on his situation was clear, but the interests of Ajax are paramount and from this point of view it is good that he is returning to the first team,” said Overmars last week.