Ajax are planning to bring Davinson Sanchez back to the Eredivisie from Tottenham Hotspur, former coach Gerard Van der Lem told the NH Sportcafe.
During the summer of 2020, Maarten Stekelenburg returned to the Johan Cruyff Arena after a decade away, re-joining the Eredivisie champions on a free transfer after his contract at Everton expired.
At the age of 38, the veteran goalkeeper could not resist the opportunity to come full circle and bring the curtain down on his career back at the club where it all began.
Should Davinson Sanchez join Stekelenburg in Amsterdam ahead of next season, this particular homecoming will be framed in a very different light.
Sanchez, after all, should be in the prime of his career at just 24.
If the Colombia international really does return to Ajax just four years after joining Tottenham in what was a then-club-record £42 million deal, the overriding narrative would be that Sanchez had failed, quite miserably, in a major European league.
The Express reported in April that a second spell in the Dutch capital for the £65,000-a-week centre-back is a genuine possibility. And Van der Lem, a former Ajax coach, believes there is plenty of truth to the rumours.
“I’ve heard in the corridors (of the Johan Cruyff Arena) that they want to get him back. The question is on what basis,” Van der Lem said.
“In England, it is a purchase that does not work. Then they sell for thirty percent less, they don’t care.”
Tottenham certainly won’t recoup the £42 million outlay they paid for Sanchez in 2017, although they will still demand a sizeable fee for a man with three years left on his contract.
It remains to be seen whether Ajax – who signed another Premier League misfit in Sebastian Haller four months ago – can afford to finance another hefty permanent transfer.
“The best thing is if you can buy him. But if you can loan him, that is of course great,” Van der Lem added.
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