Rafael van der Vaart foresees a bright future for Jurriën Timber. The twenty-year-old defender did not start on Wednesday evening in Ajax’s practice match with Leeds United (4-0 win), but came on after the break for Perr Schuurs. Afterwards, the the Dutch international received compliments from Van der Vaart, who, on behalf of Ziggo Sports provided an analysis to the last exhibition game of the team from Amsterdam.
“We were very close to the field, level with the players. What kind of speed, power and calm he radiates on the ball. . . Pooh, he’s going to have a great career.” Presenter Wytse van der Goot praised the ‘self-evident’ with which Timber is on the field. “He doesn’t panic at all,” Van der Vaart agreed. “But also its strength. After a cross, he turns on and he has it. You can’t get him off the ball.”
Klaassen about welcoming Berghuis Ajax fans: ‘He is welcome here’
Kenneth Taylor appeared at the starting signal, but the nineteen-year-old midfielder received no great compliments from Van der Vaart. “I hear very often, ‘Taylor here, Taylor there’. You can see that he can play football, but I think it’s too little. Not that I’m watching and I’m thinking: gosh. Ryan Gravenberch wasn’t great either, despite that goal. But in that you see everything. bam, force and he goes past it. With Taylor you just see a very good football player, taking the ball and playing, but the real power, no…”
Van der Vaart hopes that Taylor will start on the way up. “I hope it is ‘not yet’, but these are the matches in which you have to show yourself”, emphasized the former player of Ajax, among others. “Where you have to claim the ball. He certainly had some good moments. But a midfielder has to shoot on target two or three times. I want that feeling. I also think he can do it, but it was too little.”
Ajax finished the preparation unbeaten on Wednesday. Royal HFC (6-0), SC Paderborn (4-1) and Anderlecht (2-0) were won, while the duels with Quick’20 (1-1), Bayern Munich (2-2) and RB Leipzig ( 1-1) ended in a draw. On Saturday, the battle for the first prize of the season is already waiting. The reigning national champion and cup winner will then take on PSV, which finished second in the Eredivisie last season, in the context of the Johan Cruijff Scale.