Tuesday, October 4, 2022 at 08:35• Jordi Tomasowa • Last update: 08:46

Amin Younes sees Napoli as the favorite on Tuesday evening when the Italians take on Ajax in the Johan Cruijff ArenA. After coming to Ajax in 2015, Amin Younes quickly became a crowd favorite. The current FC Utrecht player was also under contract with Napoli for three and a half years and is therefore looking forward to the Champions League poster.

“Both clubs are equally dear to me, but based on the qualities present, I currently rate Napoli higher and I think they have the best chance of winning,” said Younes in conversation with The Telegraph. “I look back on my periods at both clubs with a positive feeling. But it’s not that I look back on it with nostalgia. I had a good time at both Ajax and Napoli and that will come to an end, that is also part of life.”

The German played a total of three seasons for Ajax. “Those seasons have been very important for my development. It has been a while, but I still know Davy Klaassen and the team manager Herman Pinkster from that period.” Younes indicates that he enjoyed watching Ajax’s good performance in the Champions League after his departure. “Ajax then had a very young team with a lot of talent. I think they did a very good job bringing guys like Daley Blind and Dusan Tadic back to the Netherlands in combination with the great generation they had then with Matthijs de Ligt and Frenkie de Jong,” said Younes.

Napoli has impressed this season in both the Champions League and Serie A, in which coach Luciano Spalletti’s team is joint leader with Atalanta. Without real stars, the Italian coach has turned his team into an attacking machine. “Napoli have a very good team again, after they have gone through a rejuvenation,” said Younes. “They are very stable. It is nice to watch Napoli. Italian teams often play very physical football, but Napoli’s philosophy will come. “close to that of Ajax. I see Napoli as the Italian club with a way of playing that comes closest to the Dutch football ideas. They want to attack and play well-groomed football. That’s why it promises to be a fun game.”