Ernie Stewart didn’t think that was too bad yet: “He may leave Ajax.”

No, there is not necessarily a silver fleet that has sailed into the Johan Cruijff Arena now that Amsterdam’s coffers are spending money hand over fist while at the same time not paying attention to the details. Millions are being spent, after an outgoing transfer has just been completed.

A year ago it was essentially no different already, but on a smaller scale, because the club’s treasury was only modestly filled. The Amsterdam-based team bought the Japanese player Ko Itakura, who had been on PSV’s radar for several months in a row and across multiple transfer windows. The age, combined with the desired German transfer fee, led PSV to decide not to take over the Japanese player from Borussia Mönchengladbach. It also seemed that Stewart was not entirely convinced of the Japanese player’s qualities, who earlier at FC Groningen had managed to make a decent but not particularly impressive impression.

Currently, PSV and Ajax are competing again, but this time regarding another player. In the past few days, Ajax has requested information about the situation of Lutsharel Geertruida. Talks have also been held with the defender of Red Bull Leipzig about a possible transfer to Amsterdam, so as mentioned, there is plenty of competition for PSV.

That last part does not mean that Geertruida is also coming to Ajax, but the club has indeed contacted the player. Ajax sees in him a versatile player who can play as a right back, in central defense and even also as number six, although Ajax would prefer a specialist for that position. Whether they can afford it in Amsterdam seems to be something for later.

PSV, a year ago, opted for Yarek Gasiorowski and left the interest in Itakura at that. Apparently, Stewart saw that quite well, because a year later the Japanese player may already leave Ajax. The development of Gasiorowski has, however, been rather difficult over the last few months, but the Polish Spaniard—well, Spanish Pole—is still very young and at 21 years old remains a player to take into account in the future. Moreover, that also means he represents a significant remaining sum and residual value.

'Edson Álvarez is meanwhile being linked with Ajax, but the Mexican also seems to be too expensive for the Amsterdam club. 'Meanwhile, Josip Sutalo and Ko Itakura may leave Ajax', reports De Telegraaf.