Premier League giants Arsenal may have dodged a bullet with Josip Sutalo as Ajax’s £20 million centre-half faces yet more criticism following another high-profile blunder.
With just minutes left on the clock away at FC Utrecht last week, Josip Sutalo contrived to sum up his and Ajax’s entire season with just one kick of the ball.
Slamming a dreadful pass into the shins of the nearest attacker when attempting to kick-start a last-gasp Ajax attack, Sutalo instead set the hosts on their way to a dramatic late winner, an error-strewn 4-3 defeat spelling the end for embattled coach Maurice Steijn and leaving the Dutch giants just one point off the bottom of the table.
Arsenal looked at Ajax defender Josip Sutalo
Sutalo confirmed just last month that Arsenal had ‘shown an interest’ in him before opting instead for Jurrien Timber. Ironically enough, the man Sutalo would end up replacing at Ajax.
And while the season certainly hasn’t been all roses and sunshine for Timber – unavailable since a serious injury suffered on his Premier League debut – you’d be hard pressed finding a player as maligned as Sutalo right now.
“I don’t understand how everyone can say that he is a top player,” Dick Advocaat, the legendary former Netherlands boss, tells Veronica Inside. Sutalo struggling again as Ajax suffered a third defeat in a row at Brighton the UEFA Europa League.
“I have paid attention to him and I actually wonder whether he is a defender at all. He really cannot defend at all. That is not possible for him.”
Ajax facing shock relegation battle
Sutalo, who was tipped to become a potentially ‘world-class’ centre-half during his time at Dinamo Zagreb, has not been on the winning side during any of his seven Ajax appearances. The Dutch giants also concede 2.4 goals per game on average with him in the XI.
“You can see whether someone has the qualities or not,” adds Ajax icon Wim Kieft. “I have not once seen that he has those qualities.”
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