They're getting a ton of money anyway, no need to be skint
I saw someone posting how much money Ajax was taking every year from transfers like the club is sitting on a huge pile of money, but what that list doesn't tell you is that Ajax needs to sell €50m a year just to break even. The tv rights deal is €10m a year, there is no treasure fleet worth close to €200m sailing in every year like it is for United that can be p*ssed away on pricy gambles, excessive wages and players with little to no resale value.
Ajax was hit especially hard by the Covid pandemic, losing approx. €40m which is akin to two huge transfers for the Eredivisie.
The current transfer record stands at €31m for Bergwijn who is only 24 years old and will still be able to transfer to a bigger league in 2-3 years time. Ziyech is close to 30 and represents far less resale value in that same time frame.
Ajax looks for two types of player:
- Prospects who can be sold on for profit;
- Seasoned players that are available at a reasonable fee and make up for their high cost by contributing to on-pitch stability and better development of prospects.
Ziyech falls into the latter category, but the price is simply too high to justify from a financial perspective. The league is the limiting factor.
Still think Ajax should sell because no other club will offer this kind of money, it's all due to Ten Hag being determined to get him. It will mean that Ajax will be playing with only one functional wing which is far easier to defend and will lead to results taking a hit as they always do.
€90m is way too much for a player with only one functional foot. The numbers of time he's been free in front of goal well within the box with the ball perfectly placed for his right foot only for him to move it to his left allowing defenders to clear it or block the shot ... so frustrating. Zero confidence in his right. The only thing he uses his right foot for is to prevent himself from falling over.
Surely Ajax have options outside of Ziyech
Not as far as 1-on-1 replacements go. The only reason that Ziyech is interested in coming to Ajax is due to his prior history at the club. That's a very limited recruitment pool.
Antony was bought for €16m with a 20% sell-on over profit. 20% of €74m = €15m
Leaving (on paper only because there are bound to be additional costs) €59m. United could then spend close to 2/3 of that money on buying a 1-on-1 replacement, Ajax can't. No EPL money, no sugar daddy (although at United it's more like Scrooge before the hauntings at this point).
