Nicolai Boilesen broke through as a promising talent at Ajax ten years ago, but the now 29-year-old left wing defender left Amsterdam in 2016 without earning a transfer fee. According to Boilesen, that could have turned out differently, because a year before his departure there was sufficient interest from abroad. According to the Dane, it was due to the asking price of Ajax that a transfer did not come about.
Boilesen looks across from the Danish TV3 back to his period in Amsterdam. In 2015, the wingback was still one year with Ajax and he was in the interest of Borussia Dortmund, AS Roma and Galatasaray. “All summer I tried to get away and there were three clubs with whom I had good conversations,” said Boilesen. “I wanted to switch to one of these clubs, but when these clubs reported to Ajax they were told a higher asking price than I had agreed with Ajax.”
Ajax demanded four million euros for Boilesen, he recalls. The three interested parties did not want to pay that, but Genoa did come to an agreement with Ajax. “I did visit there, but I didn’t get the feeling that they really wanted me. They didn’t know much about me either, so that didn’t feel right,” Boilesen explains. A transfer was not forthcoming for the fullback in the summer of 2015.
Boilesen refused the contract extension that Ajax offered him, after which the then trainer Frank de Boer put him out of the A-selection. “I remember that I came to De Toekomst training complex and had lost my jersey number, without being informed about it. I trained for a year with Jong Ajax, was not allowed to play a match anymore. If I had Frank de Boer or Marc Overmars at the club they pretended I didn’t exist anymore.” Without playing another game, Boilesen left in 2016 on a free transfer to FC Copenhagen, where he still plays.