Lens has signed a contract with Kiev and that means big bugs for PSV. Brands has restarted the negotiations with Maher's agent. During the winter break PSV did everything to get him and went as far as 6.5 million I believe. With the million's of the Kiev deal I can imagine PSV is prepared to add 2 or 3 million extra and sign him up quickly. What I do not understand is that with all Ajax's money on the bank, that they have not acted faster to get him. Now with PSV refilled with money there is no way Maher will get any cheaper. Maybe the price will rise so much that Overmars will simply not want to do it. Brands of course knew things would become costly in the summer and so wanted to wrap up the deal in the winter. If Mertens and Toivonen are sold quickly also in the next weeks, there will simply be a bidding war and whoever will get him, has put a lot of money on the table. What struck me all this time, reading an extensive interview from Maher and his parents, is their attachment to their neighborhood in Amsterdam. He is a player that would fit the Ajax style and he would play CL guaranteed. PSV still has to qualify. Much goes into Ajax favor, I would even say enough to just make public that he wants to go to Ajax. However I just read that Maher has a rule in his contract with AZ that a significant percentage of the transfer deal will go to him. If that is true then a bidding war between the clubs is not something that is bad for him. Au contraire, it will make him more financial independent. That is something I did not know before today and sheds an interesting light on the case. I'm interested in what Overmars is going to do now.
@DRB - Ajax have become financially conservative these days. They have a hard cap of €1M on player salaries and will not overpay for transfers because of the Sulejmani deal of several years ago. I get the feeling that the club was more interested in van Ginkel than Maher but I could be wrong (and it's unlike that if Chelsea are serious that Ajax can get van Ginkel at all). There's also the question of whether Eriksen will be leaving this summer. Dortmund appear to be more interested in de Bruyne of Belgium than Eriksen and I don't think Eriksen will leave for any club that is not going to be playing CL football. He very well may extend his contract by another year in which case the pressure to buy Maher is less. I don't think Ajax will pay more than €6-8M for Maher and a lot of that will depend on if Eriksen leaves. PSV on the other hand don't care how they spend money. Toivonen will not command as much money as PSV hoped and they already told him that if he doesn't extend his contract he will play on the reserve team all season. IMO if Mertens, Toivonen, and Lens all leave the club will be in a bit of trouble in terms of scoring. They had issues when Toivonen was out injured this past season. Wijnaldum had a great season for them but is he the real deal? I don't know. I'm not too worried about PSV because their defense is just horrible.
If PSV decides they want Maher first and foremost, there's pretty much nothing Ajax can do financially to beat them(since they have no regard for financial stability whereas we do). Only things we can do then are convince the player that Ajax is the better choice for his career (because it is), or run up the transfer fee and worsen their financial situation. TBH I don't see why PSV would want Maher though. PSV seems to like playing with a vertical goal scoring AM. Maher by contrast is a playmaking mid who sucks at finishing, and would suffer behind a non-technical CF. We all saw how his game was limited with de Jong ahead of him. It's also worth noting that with van Bommel, Hutch, and almost certainly Strootman all leaving as well, PSV will need an entirely new midfield. Plus they need new defense, and they're going to lose their attacking talent. If they continue to ignore their academy, they're going to have to really stretch their budget if they are to plug the holes. Of course that's what a logical team would do. Of course this is PSV... They'll probably spend all their budget on a couple midfielders and an attacker, and let their defense crumble further while being shorter on midfield and attacking personnel than they were this year. On the matter of Dortmund wanting de Bruyne over Eriksen, you have to keep in mind that they are trying to buy a really good player from Chelsea. Why would Chelsea let him go?
The Telegraaf claims that Ajax have given up on Maher because AZ demand 10 million for him. This was probably also the reason why they inquired with Labyad recently. Now Duarte seems to be the top priority. Ajax is also interested in retrieving Jozefzoon.
Do you think Overmars is right to keep the money in the pocket or would you have payed the 10 million?
There is a double edged sword in this one. It's not only Ajax not getting him, it's almost certain PSV will. So you also have to calculate for that as well.
In my opinion, that was the logic behind overpaying for Sulejmani as well. And that was a mistake. If Ajax aren't willing to overpay for Maher, great. I'd rather the club be financially secure. If they don't win the Eredivisie this coming season, there is always the one after that. As long as the club stays true to its philosophy, they can afford to let "can't miss" players go elsewhere and still win, while remaining financially sound.
Maher is going to be worth double after 1 or 2 years at Ajax. But I do agree 10 million is a bit much. Overmars has just said that the asking price is not an issue at the moment but rather that Ajax has different priorities right now.
The rumors about Jozefzoon are odd. Has he really developed so much in a year that we are willing to spend money to get him back?
I guess this means that Castillion is gone for sure now. Too bad as four years ago he was considered quite promising.
Right now Ajax stand 15 on the list of CL qualifying teams in terms of coefficient. This means that we will be in Pot 2 for the draw. Let's hope for a better outcome than the last two years.
Yes. Rankings are HERE. Benfica, Porto, and Athletico Madrid are the lowest rated teams in the top eight.
It really doesn't matter what pot we're in. It will be Ajax, Real Madrid, and the two best teams in the other two pots.
Ajax will almost surely be in the pot 3. The Orange14's link doesn't take the play-offs into consideration. Arsenal, Lyon, Milan, Schalke and Zenit all have yet to qualify, and their coefficients are better than yours. This site is quite reliable for that. You may have some chance for advancing if you're very lucky and draw CSKA or maybe Lyon from the second pot, and also manage to avoid Bayer, Napoli and even Celtic from the pot 4.
^Correct, unfortunately I forgot about the play offs. Edit: By the looks of the table at least we will avoid Juventus, Dortmund and ManCity in the pool play which is a good thing