Saturday, April 10, 2021 at 6:38 PM• Mart Oude Nijeweeme • Last update: 18:41

Noussair Mazraoui got a laugh on his hand on Saturday during Ajax’s training in the run-up to Sunday’s away match against RKC Waalwijk. The defender, who has been out of circulation for some time with an eye injury, nowadays goes through life with Edgar Davids-esque glasses. Ajax shared images on Saturday via social media of the right back returning from an injury, who is not yet in the game against RKC. Earlier this season, the same happened to Nicolás Tagliafico.

On February 13, Mazraoui played his last match on behalf of Ajax, when the defender was forced to switch twenty minutes before the end of the away match against Heracles Almelo (0-2) after he got a ball in his eye. At first glance, the situation did not seem to indicate anything serious. Mazraoui could still see, but his vision deteriorated with exertion. As a result, he had to watch over the past few months. Last weekend, after the won away game against sc Heerenveen (1-2), trainer Erik ten Hag already had good news about Mazraoui.

“Mazraoui has had the green light and is back in training,” Ten Hag said on Sunday. “He has taken steps on the field last week and we are going to expand that this week.” It is not known whether Mazraoui will participate in the group training of Ajax again. “But we hope that he can rejoin the team soon”, continued Ten Hag Since the absence of Mazraoui, the right back position has mainly been filled by Devyne Rensch, who received many compliments for his performances.

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– AFC Ajax (@AFCAjax) April 10, 2021

Mazraoui’s glasses, presumably on the advice of Ajax’s medical staff, are reminiscent of Davids. The former midfielder of the Dutch national team has an eye disease and therefore wore special glasses during matches for years during his active career. Earlier this season, Tagliafico received glasses at Ajax for the same reason. The left back sustained a wound under his eye in the home game against Willem II (3-1) after a collision with Vangelis Pavlidis. Tagliafico wore the glasses for a few matches, until his eye was fully recovered.