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Dusan Tadic (34) reported – as agreed – on Thursday at Amsterdam training center De Toekomst. But just like Wednesday, the captain of Ajax did not train. Instead, he and his agent Milos Malenovic had a half-hour conversation with director of football affairs Sven Mislintat. It is an open secret that the Serbian is dissatisfied with the quality of the current selection and that he thinks that top players should be added very quickly.
Ajax has a different opinion for the time being and is keeping its hand on the purse strings. Mislintat and financial director Susan Lenderink believe that too much money has been spent in recent years and first want to close the gap of 45 million euros due to missing out on the Champions League. In addition, they want to cut salary costs considerably, so sales must first be made before part of the transfer fee and the released salary can be reinvested.
Tadic is a first-class winner, who played with Frenkie de Jong, Matthijs de Ligt, Lisandro Martinez, Nicolas Tagliafico, Donny van de Beek, Antony, André Onana and Sébastien Haller at Ajax in the past, but is now surrounded by lesser players. A new disappointing season like last year, which narrowly ended in third place, does not suit the veteran.
Open for a departure
Tadic, who scored 105 times in 241 duels in the Ajax shirt and delivered 112 assists, does not seem to want to wait for the management. The national champion of 2019, 2021 and 2022 is in the interest of various clubs in Europe and, despite his love for Ajax, seems to be increasingly open to a departure.
It also plays a role that his urgent advice with interim coach John Heitinga to continue was ignored by Mislintat. It also disappoints him that it was one big chaos at Ajax last year and in his eyes it still is.
