The line-up of Ajax for the last practice match in the preparation is known. Trainer Erik ten Hag chooses in the meeting with Leeds United, from 8.15 pm in the Johan Cruijff ArenA, for a basic team including Steven Berghuis and Kenneth Taylor. It is striking that Nicolas Tagliafico and Devyne Rensch are not in the match selection. It immediately caused the necessary question marks among the fans of Ajax on social media.
Ten Hag opts for two acquisitions in the starting eleven: in addition to Berghuis, Remko Pasveer also appears at the starting signal. He is preferred over Maarten Stekelenburg. Noussair Mazraoui, Perr Schuurs, Lisandro Martínez and Daley Blind form the striking defense. Tagliafico and Rensch are also not on the bench, while Jurriën Timber has to leave a base place to Schuurs. According to Football International Tagliafico has a minor injury and will probably have to miss the match against PSV.
Nineteen-year-old Taylor has a place in midfield, just like Ryan Gravenberch and Davy Klaassen. Berghuis is preferred over David Neres and accompanies Sébastien Haller and Dusan Tadic in the attack. That was also the vanguard in the friendly against RB Leipzig (1-1).
Earlier in the day, a combination team of Ajax reserves and youth players already won 3-1 against Leeds United. A number of players from the team that took office at the time are on the bench: Jay Gorter, Jurgen Ekkelenkamp, Victor Jensen and Ar’Jany Martha. Ajax will play the first official match of the season on Saturday, when PSV is the opponent in the battle for the Johan Cruijff Scale.
Ajax setup: feather; Mazraoui, Schuurs, Martínez, Blind; Klaassen, Gravenberch, Taylor; Berghuis, Haller and Tadic.