Saturday, October 30, 2021 at 7:14 PM• Jeroen van Poppel

Erik ten Hag reacted to the situation of Zakaria Labyad prior to the duel with Heracles Almelo. In interview with ESPN the Ajax coach indicates that the midfielder, who is suspected of a violent incident, is ‘quite relaxed’. Labyad was absent from training on Friday and is not in the selection for the game that started at 18:45.

“Zakaria is doing well, yes”, Ten Hag responds to Hélène Hendriks’ question about how Labyad is doing. “We’ve talked about it. He knows what happened.” The coach is clear about the outcome of the case: “If you have norms and values, and you have lived them, then you have nothing to fear. However?” The lawyers of the Dutch-Moroccan midfielder, who only played fourteen minutes for the team from Amsterdam this season, have so far denied any form of involvement in the incident.

Friday reported The Telegraph that the police and the judiciary are investigating a violent incident between a contractor, Labyad and his family. The incident is said to have taken place on July 5, 2020, when a long-dormant conflict escalated. A fight arose about the quality of the work delivered by the contractor at Labyad’s villa in Het Gooi. The contractor reported to the villa for a discussion about the further financial settlement, when he allegedly started banging on windows and doors. Labyad would then have felt threatened.

According to the contractor, family members of Labyad would then have appeared at the villa, after which there were blows and threats with a firearm. The police who arrived at the scene made no arrests and both the contractor and Labyad eventually filed a report. The contractor has also engaged a bailiff to collect what he believes is still owed from Labyad. The images from the security cameras at Labyad’s house were then advanced, after the Ajax midfielder initially refused to relinquish it. An independent custodian initially lost those images, but they have since reappeared, including at RTL Boulevard.