Ajax director Sven Mislintat defends his purchases. Prior to the disappointing draw against Fortuna Sittard (0-0), the German extensively discussed the transfer policy of the Amsterdam club.
The team from Amsterdam sold more than 156 million euros to players. Mislintat put 108 million of that into twelve new players. “There was so much to repair. We are more competitive than last year, because the selection is much more balanced. We did it, but we have to show that now,” he tells De Telegraaf.
The director of football affairs mainly asks for patience. “It is not fair to Maurice Steijn to expect everything to fall into place at once, because we have lost top players with Jurriën Timber, Dusan Tadic, Edson Alvarez and Mohammed Kudus. It is tricky, because we see the best of this team not in the next three, six or nine weeks. We have planted a seed and now need to give it sun and water.”
Although Ajax mainly recruited foreign players who have little experience at the highest level, the championship remains the goal. “I don’t want and can’t spend super money on top level players,” explains Mislintat. “My job is to find players with the same talent, who can be obtained for less money. I never choose certainty.”
Mislintat disputes that the purchases hinder the flow of its own talent. “If you sell players you also have to buy players. We have transferred five players from the youth academy to the first team. So we shouldn’t complain about that. We are still the club in the Netherlands in that regard.”
