Frenkie de Jong last: Ranking Erik ten Hag’s 2019 Ajax squad by likelihood of Man Utd transfer
Man Utd manager Erik ten Hag has decided to sign two more players he managed at Ajax – Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui – and is unlikely to stop there. Frenkie de Jong is still his dream target.
Ten Hag is clearly hell-bent on getting the band back together, looking to sign as many players that helped the Eredivisie giants reach the last four of the 2019 Champions League as possible.
He has already signed Andre Onana, Lisandro Martinez and Antony from that 2018/19 side and another ex-Ajax star in Christian Eriksen. He also managed Sofyan Amrabat at Utrecht, while Mason Mount, Tyrell Malacia and Wout Weghorst all have experience playing in the Dutch top flight. It’s safe to say he has a type.
With that in mind, we have ranked every Ajax player who featured in that Champions League run five years ago by how likely they are to be brought to Man Utd by their former boss Ten Hag.
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Ranking Erik ten Hag’s 2019 Ajax squad by likelihood of Man Utd transfer
20) Frenkie de Jong
Face it, lads, this ship sailed a long time ago.
19) Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
Retired? Has been for three years? Never say never.
18) Kaj Sierhuis
Pretty much doubled his career top-flight league goal tally for Fortuna Sittard in 2023/24 but is out until February after tearing his ACL.
17) Jurgen Ekkelenkamp
Ekkelenkamp recently left Royal Antwerp for Udinese. The fact he has only just moved is the only reason we are ruling out a transfer to Man Utd; he’d be all up in that midfield otherwise.
16) Dani de Wit
Like Ekkelenkamp, De Wit has only just moved. Sorry, Erik.
15) Zakaria Labyad
Labyad is currently plying his trade in the Chinese second tier. Do you remember him playing for Fulham in the second half of 2015/16? He played twice for them.
14) Lisandro Magallan
The 30-year-old centre-back currently plays for UNAM in Mexico and could do a job over Jonny Evans, to be fair.
13) Daley Sinkgraven
Ajax paid a decent fee to sign Sinkgraven from Heerenveen in 2015 and sold him to Bayer Leverkusen for a minor loss at the end of the 2018/19 campaign. Warming the bench for Las Palmas isn’t a great look and means the 29-year-old has no chance of a Ten Hag reunion.
12) Lasse Schone
Schone is now 38 and captain of NEC Nijmegen. His race is run, we reckon.
11) Carel Eiting
Former Huddersfield Town midfielder Eiting is a handy player and currently plays for FC Twente. It honestly would not surprise us if he emerges as an alternative to Manuel Ugarte’s alternative, Sander Berge.
10) Joel Veltman
Veltman to Man Utd for £15m would be so Brighton and even more Man Utd. If he can continue his run of scoring exactly one goal and providing exactly one assist per season at Old Trafford, we would be well behind this.
9) Kasper Dolberg
The hype around Dolberg was massive, breaking into the Ajax first team aged 18 under Peter Bosz, scoring 14 goals in 46 appearances with Ten Hag in charge. The Danish striker is pretty much an older and worse version of Rasmus Hojlund, mainly because they are both blond and Danish.
After spells at Nice, Sevilla and Hoffenheim, the 27-year-old plays for Anderlecht in Belgium and could definitely do a job off the bench, four times a season, for Man Utd.
8) Rasmus Kristensen
Yeah, us neither.
7) Maximilian Wober
Again, we had no idea.
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6) Dusan Tadic
Man Utd could do with a bit more creativity in their midfield and that is one thing Tadic provides in abundance. The Serbian is now in Turkey playing for Jose Mourinho for Fenerbahce and might fancy one last dance in the Premier League.
Ten Hag likes his old players but they are usually still relatively young. People change, though, and if the thought pops into his head, he will be difficult to stop in his tracks.
5) Daley Blind
Ten Hag loves going back to an ex, so why not go for the double whammy and sign a player he managed at Ajax after he played for Man Utd? It would be rude not to…
4) Hakim Ziyech
Let’s be real, he is better than Antony.
3) David Neres
A versatile forward is likely to be targeted by Man Utd if PSG-linked Jadon Sancho leaves and Neres is just that. Napoli are reportedly keen so he is definitely good enough for Man Utd.
2) Nicolas Tagliafico
Luke Shaw’s injury problems are persisting and Tyrell Malacia doesn’t exist anymore, so this is actually quite realistic. Noussair Mazraoui can play left-back, but a player natural in that position will likely be on the agenda for Ten Hag. Who better than someone he knows as well as Tagliafico?
1) Donny van de Beek
No explanation necessary.
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