Marco van Basten does not expect that Ajax can win the Champions League. The analyst discusses Monday evening at the table with Rondo the title chances of the team from Amsterdam in the billion-dollar ball, and he suggests that Ajax cannot yet compete with the absolute European top. Especially on an individual level, the team of trainer Erik ten Hag can make steps in his eyes, although the former striker is full of praise for the ‘team performance’ of the club.
“Do I think Ajax can win the Champions League? I don’t believe that,” says Van Basten when asked. “I would think it’s wonderful, not of that. But if you look at the level of the individuals at Ajax, I don’t think he can easily join Real Madrid or he can easily join Barcelona. They have a well-adapted team, but each and every one of them is not at the level that you think: well…”, says Van Basten, who also believes that the current selection of Ajax is no better than the selection of three years ago.
“A good team has good players. This team is a good team, but I don’t think the players themselves have the level at which they can go to big clubs. If you then look at Donny van de Beek, you look at Matthijs de Ligt and Frenkie de Jong…”, according to Van Basten, who is also supported by Ruud Gullit. “They think that in England too. Those English commentators I sometimes have to deal with also say that our competition is nothing at all. They say: ‘That Haller, he couldn’t do anything in England and is now scoring on the assembly line. Tadic? Meh…’”, concludes Gullit.
Frank de Boer estimates that Ajax’s chances at European level are higher and is of the opinion that the team from Amsterdam does have players with a lot of individual class. “I do agree with you that it is an incredibly well-attuned team, but also with many good individual qualities”, responds De Boer to Van Basten’s opinion. “Like Daley Blind is empowered. Those two central defenders (Lisandro Martínez and Jurriën Timber, ed.) are doing incredibly well. And then Gravenberch. In my view, that is a major international player for the future. When you see how fast he does everything and how he thinks, I think that’s incredibly clever.”
“I think Mazraoui is also incredibly good at the moment. Really international top how he is currently playing,” continues De Boer, who is interrupted by Van Basten. “I have my doubts about that too. Because really defensive… I want to see him against a really good left winger.” Nevertheless, De Boer is of the opinion that Ajax is certainly in the top five of best clubs in Europe. “At the moment the five best teams are Liverpool, Manchester City, Ajax, Chelsea and Bayern Munich. Paris Saint Germain? No, as a team they are less.”