It seems only a matter of time before Gerry Hamstra’s employment with Ajax comes to an end. The Telegraph announced earlier this week that the technical director has submitted his departure wish to the club, as he holds himself responsible for the appointment of Alfred Schreuder and the failed transfer summer. In the meantime, club watcher Mike Verweij does not get in touch with Hamstra in any way.
Hamstra realizes that he has not been able to fill Marc Overmars’ shoes. Overmars himself brought the Groninger to the club in March 2021 to relieve him of part of his duties. When Overmars resigned barely a year later because of transgressive behavior towards some female colleagues, Hamstra was put forward earlier than planned. With Klaas-Jan Huntelaar he has since taken care of the technical matters and that did not go without a fight.
On the podcast Kick off Verweij goes deeper into the matter. “Ajax has still not announced it to the world, but Hamstra has now completely disappeared from the face of the earth,” said the club watcher. “He doesn’t respond to anything anymore and doesn’t show himself anymore. Ajax is working on dissolving the contract. On the one hand, that makes sense, because Hamstra hasn’t performed very well. But it’s cheap to put all the blame on him. to shove.”
Verweij therefore wants to take a cautious stand for the director of football affairs. “He ended up in an organization where the supervisory directors refused to find a successor for Overmars for a year,” Verweij puts his finger on the sore spot. “Hamstra was not only responsible for the purchases and acquisitions. Edwin van der Sar (managing director, ed.) and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Hamstra’s assistant, ed.) were also responsible. is not quite right.”
Valentijn Driessen cannot agree with Verweij’s compassion. “This was the ultimate opportunity to prove himself as a technical director,” said the football chief The Telegraph. “More than a hundred million was spent last summer. You should be able to put together a selection that will become champion of the Netherlands with two fingers in the nose. Also with the fact that players have left for a hundred million. In addition, Hamstra had get a good trainer.”