Mike Verweij does not think it is right that André Onana is currently the bitten dog at Ajax. According to the Ajax watcher of The Telegraph the team from Amsterdam hesitated when the 25-year-old goalkeeper wanted to extend his contract two years ago. Verweij says in Kick-Off, the football podcast of The Telegraph, that Ajax should not cling too much to its principles in the treatment of Onana.
“Onana already indicated two years ago that he wanted to extend his contract. Yes, it did. He is now the bitten dog at Ajax, and that is not right”, Verweij begins. “Now he is still the bitten dog, but from November 4 he is suddenly embraced and then you get a charm offensive on the part of Onana and Ajax”, colleague Valentijn Driessen adds. “That’s how it works in the end, because everyone can see that Onana is a keeper of extraordinary category and why should you only remember the club, the team and the trainer because of your so-called principles?”
“He is under contract with you, you pay him. So he just plays. In the meantime, you can look for a good replacement. Because yes, Stekelenburg and Pasveer are not the replacement for him. With Gorter you just have to wait and see. They dared to put Onana under the bar when Cillessen left, but they don’t dare to do that with Gorter yet,” Driessen continues. Presenter Pim Sedee points out that at Ajax there are currently very different sounds about Jay Gorter than about Kjell Scherpen, who has now left for Brighton & Hove Albion.
“Gorter is a much better keeper”, Verweij responds. “He’s a huge bouncing ball, so he’ll have to prove himself. Whether he is stable enough in the end… He is a young boy, but there is no doubt that he has a lot of talent. There are many supporters who think that he should already be in Ajax 1. But if you put your ear to a listen at Ajax, that is still much, much too early.” Verweij thinks that Ajax would do well to seek rapprochement with Onana.
“Principles are good and Onana has continued to be paid his salary during his doping suspension, so it makes people crooked that he now does not want to renew his contract. But you have to be careful that principles are not at the expense of the club,” says Verweij. “If you do have him re-signed with a clause, so that he stays for another year and you can draft him after November with good decency… Then you should do that. Ajax has already lost a lot of money. Neres stayed, which was worth 47 million in 2019. More than 20 million was bid on Edson Álvarez, the value of Tagliafico was estimated at 25 million. He isn’t worth that anymore. Onana was estimated at 30 million in his prime. Add that up and you’re talking about 100 million going down the drain.”