Ajax defender has something to say about “PSV dominance on the ball”

In Amsterdam, the bar is set significantly higher than in the past seasons. At least, that is the intention, because the fifth place is still in the capital. And so, substantial investments are being made.

As one often notices in everyday life that people or even companies spend visibly more once money comes in, that aspect counts in Amsterdam too. For Newcastle United had not yet transferred the 28 million euros for Steur, or the ailing Amsterdam club immediately bought a striker for 19 million euros.

In Eindhoven but also in Rotterdam people handle it more wisely. A process lasting for years, for that reason both stable-performing clubs are also above the shakily performing and shakily spending Ajax on the league table. That results today in larger and more stable transfer budgets, yet Ajax still throws 19 million euros to land a scoring striker.

It is now or never, it seems people in the capital are thinking. Now or never catch up PSV and stay ahead of Feyenoord in the standings, goes the Amsterdam credo. Jordi Cruijff is clear both internally and externally, because PSV must be knocked off the throne, and that will be in the summer of 2027.

That opinion has also been attributed to Ajax defender Youri Baas, because for Baas too it is time to dethrone PSV. Baas appears in particular to be impressed by a specific aspect of the team of Peter Bosz. 'Last season you finished 28 points behind PSV; what, in your eyes, was the biggest difference between you?', a member of the editorial staff of Voetbal International asked Baas.

‘I think above all about dominance with the ball. Last season we didn’t have very many matches where we really made it easy for ourselves. Where you truly had control and you just knew: Okay, now we’re going to score the third or fourth goal and it’s just done. That’s where we want to be again this season. We want to start dominating again,’ Baas points to PSV.

‘That is naturally not one thing either, but in my eyes you can only keep control of a match if you have a lot of the ball, attack a lot, and really put the opponent under pressure. Then you can decide for yourself: now we’re going to attack a bit more calmly. But we want to get to that feeling of control,’ said Baas about the coming season.