Van Halst and Van Veenendaal draw the same conclusion after Van der Sar interview


Tuesday, March 15, 2022 at 8:21 PM• Dominic Mostert • Last update: 20:26

Edwin van der Sar gave an update on the state of affairs within his club on Tuesday evening prior to the match between Ajax and Benfica. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar was attracted this week to support technical manager Gerry Hamstra and trainer Erik ten Hag, in response to the departure of director of football affairs Marc Overmars. In conversation with Ziggo Sports Van der Sar discussed the arrival of Huntelaar and the investigation into former Ajax player Quincy Promes.

“Due to the departure of Marc Overmars, there has been a gap in the technical part,” explained Van der Sar in conversation with Wytse van der Goot. “We have Gerry Hamstra who has been working with us for the past year and a half. He will take on a number of additional tasks. In addition, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar has actually joined to support and to ensure that there is a follow-up. We give former players the chance at Ajax. That actually happened to me ten years ago and in that way it is important that we can also get the next batch of Ajax DNA into the club at all kinds of levels. Not only in the office, but also in other places.”

According to Van der Sar, Huntelaar must above all guarantee continuity for the short term. “He has to prove himself first, as a player you have to do that too,” said the general manager. “We’ll see how that goes over a period of time, how he handles that. He is very interested in it. He thinks he has a lot of perspective on it. There are only many other things to consider than when you are a trainer or player. He is going to pick things up and join the scouting. That way we’re going to see how he develops. He has done that very well as a player, we are now going to see how he does that in another position.”

Van der Sar recently gave in conversation with ESPN to first want to focus on his own organization with regard to the unrest surrounding Marc Overmars. Bee Ziggo Sports he explained how things are now internally. “Yes, that’s going well. We are in calmer waters. Ultimately, a research agency will look at the colleagues who had to deal with the WhatsApp messages from Overmars. We hope to receive a final report on this in a few weeks, which is prompted by the Supervisory Board. The past few weeks have been hectic and tough for a lot of people, that’s part of it. It’s not all roses and moonshine.”

Another study will start later this month, which focuses on the sports and work climate at the club. “If recommendations emerge from that, we will of course follow them,” Van der Sar announced. “The past few weeks have been hectic and tough for a lot of people. That’s part of it, it’s not all roses and moonshine.” He also referred to the revelations surrounding Promes, who is suspected of stabbing his cousin. At the time he was still active at Ajax. Leaked wiretaps show that in conversations with his family, Promes confirmed that he wanted to kill his cousin.

“It is terrible what Quincy has ended up in. I have little else to add to that. It is now with the judiciary. I am waiting to see what comes from there,” Van der Sar responded to the question whether he will already be in 2020 spoke to Promes. Sunday reported Studio Football that in 2020, even before the stabbing incident in Abcoude, the police had conversations with Promes about his contacts in the criminal environment. Reporter Jeroen Stekelenburg reported that Van der Sar was present at one of those conversations, but he did not want to confirm that. Talks did take place later, when the suspicion of the stabbing came out. “Erik has had conversations with Quincy, just like Marc and I. Those conversations were no reason for us to keep him out of the selection.”

In the end, the conversation turned to the match between Ajax and Benfica. “He was so happy that it could be about football,” said presenter Bas van Veenendaal after Van der Sar’s words. “When it comes to sensitive themes such as Quincy Promes and Marc Overmars, you notice that it is walking on eggshells.” According to studio guest Jan van Halst, this is due to the fact that Van der Sar does not have the right ‘communication skills’. “A general manager cannot have everything. He does have a lot of support internally. Sometimes he formulates a sentence very unhappily.”