When a good player enters the final year of his contract, it becomes virtually impossible to keep him. Either you offer a vastly improved deal or another club swoops in and lures the player away with a promise of better pay and a hefty signing bonus. It’s already happened twice to Ajax this year.🚨 – Van der Sar about Mazraoui’s contract extension, to @parool:“Several months have been lost in the negotiations. We really want him to stay, but we are halfway through December. And then you already know where this is heading.” pic.twitter.com/W6botjpsFW— 𝐀𝐅𝐂 𝐀𝐉𝐀𝐗 💎 (@TheEuropeanLad) December 24, 2021 After the troubled goalkeeper Andre Onana agreed to a move to Inter Milan, the Amsterdammers’ starting right-back Noussair Mazraoui has been tempted away by Barcelona.The Dutch club offered a new contract to the 24-year-old, but to no avail. Even though he’s spent his entire career with the Netherlands’ most successful club, Mazraoui’s head has been turned – and the club’s sporting director Edwin van der Sar is already resigned to it.”We’ve lost months in negotiations. We’d like to keep Noussair but now it’s the middle of December so you know where it’s going.”Sat, 15.30: (3.35) El Madina El Monowara (2.95) Asyut Petrol (2.25)The former Manchester United, Juventus and Fulham goalkeeper expressed his disappointment at Ajax having to lose players for free transfers.”If this becomes a fashion it’s a threat to Ajax. We want to win and become champions and go as far as possible in Europe. You need the best players for that. That’s the short term, you need to protect the club in the long term too.”So, Barcelona have secured another right-back. That would probably spell the end of another player who came from Ajax – Serginho Dest. The USA international was a first-team regular under previous boss Ronald Koeman, but it seems that Xavi Hernandez has different ideas. The former Barca captain has already signed veteran defender Dani Alves as backup and with Mazraoui arriving – it looks like Dest will be discarded.##EDITORS_CHOICE##Ajax will try to at least do a straight swap with Barcelona during the January transfer window. It would somewhat soften the blow of losing Mazraoui because they would be getting Dest back. It looks like a deal that would benefit both clubs – but it remains to be seen whether the American is keen on a return to Dutch football.
