Mike Verweij thinks that Ajax should make quick work of the return of Brian Brobbey. The nineteen-year-old striker left Amsterdam transfer-free last summer for a switch to RB Leipzig, but the Ajax watcher from The Telegraph hears sounds that Brobbey would like to return ‘on his knees’. Verweij thinks that Ajax could rent Brobbey from RB Leipzig with an option to buy.
“I think that Ajax should work very quickly on the return of Brian Brobbey”, Verweij begins in Kick-Off, the football podcast of The Telegraph “If he comes in as right back at RB Leipzig these days, you have to take your loss. Ajax has of course seen him leave on a free transfer. But I think there is a very good chance that when Ajax reports now, they can rent him with a mandatory option to buy. Why not step over your pride and get a boy like that back for a few million euros?”
Verweij is asked whether Ajax is already working on a possible return of Brobbey. “No, but I think that boy on his knees wants to go back to Amsterdam. You hear those sounds. I can’t imagine that he is very happy at Leipzig”, the Ajax watcher answers The Telegraph. Brobbey played six games for RB Leipzig for the time being, all as a substitute. The striker said in an interview with The Telegraph that he ‘may just have to live this experience’.
“He told a slightly different story there, but Mike has sources and inputs so that he knows that this may soon be discussed”, Valentijn Driessen adds. “I have to say honestly: if Brobbey doesn’t make it at Leipzig, where three half strikers are walking around… I don’t think Ajax should take him back, you shouldn’t want that. I understand it from the training point of view, we haven’t been able to train a striker for a long time. Now we have one.”
“But he does not make Ajax better”, continues the football chief of The Telegraph. “It is not the case that Ajax will play better with Brobbey instead of Haller. You have to do better, keep selecting. This boy has chosen Leipzig. If he had wanted to stay, Ajax should have done so. You have to give such a boy from your own training a chance. He didn’t want that chance, because he left. Then you have to look further at his qualities. Will he take Ajax further in Europe? I do not think so.”
“Ajax does give a signal, because Danilo is the second striker behind Haller and he is not actually in the plans,” emphasizes Verweij. “They have deliberately chosen not to get a second striker, despite the departure of Brobbey and Huntelaar. Tadic is the only real alternative to Haller. I think you can get Brobbey back very well. He is not yet good enough to give Ajax the Champions League, but in the Eredivisie he can be of great value. He can reach a higher level through the Eredivisie.”
Verweij thinks that Ajax does not have to dig deep into their pockets to bring Brobbey back to Amsterdam. “I think if Ajax offers five million, they have it. The trainer (Julian Nagelsmann, ed.) and the sporting director (Markus Krösche, ed.) who brought him to Leipzig have left. He’s sitting there in a city… Yeah, I can’t help but imagine that he’s very unhappy. Those are the signals you get.”