Ajax should jump at the chance to sell Lassina Traore to West Ham United or Wolverhampton Wanderers for £20 million, former Eredivisie ace Kenneth Perez has told Voetbalplaat.
Such a deal would certainly make sense from a financial perspective.
And, in this covid-afflicted, fan-less world, no club is in the position to turn down the chance to make a quick buck.
After signing Sebastien Haller for a club record £20 million, De Telegraaf reports Traore could be heading in the other direction, earning Ajax a tidy profit on a player who joined from sister club Ajax Cape Town in 2019.
West Ham have joined Wolves in the race to sign the 19-year-old who, despite equalling an Eredivisie record with a stunning five-goal haul in that infamous 13-0 shellacking of VVV Venlo, has scored just twice in ten further league appearances in 2020/21.
“It would be gold if some crazy English club put down twenty million for Traore,” says Perez, a former Denmark international who had two spells at Ajax in the noughties.
“That wouldn’t surprise me. Then we have Haller’s money back.”
Although the sample size is small, Traore certainly looks a natural-born, penalty-box poacher – more so than the often exasperating Haller anyway.
The teenager is a strong, physical, somewhat old-school centre-forward who’s at his most dangerous in the six-yard box, attacking crosses like a hungry tiger shark.
Aaron Cresswell, Adama Traore and co would surely create plenty of chances for Traore if he leaves the Amsterdam finishing school for England this month.
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