The 28-year-old is struggling in a big way at Newcastle United.
The Daily Mail reported in August that Ajax were set to pay some £4 million to re-sign Siem De Jong from Newcastle United.
Injuries – many on the freakish side, such as a collapsed lung and a bizarre but serious eye problem – had prevented the 28-year-old from ever getting many chances in the North East, but he had impressed for Newcastle in pre-season and some fans of the St James’s Park club felt that Rafael Benitez should’ve kept him.
But it already looks like it was a fantastic bit of business by the Magpies boss.
The six-cap Netherlands international was an unused substitution in his first two games back at Ajax – where he spent nine years before joining United in 2014 – and still has only three minutes of league football under his belt as of now.
If that was not bad enough then the Dutch attacker was dropped to Ajax B for a clash with Utrecht reserves earlier this month.
De Jong did, however, bag himself a goal and an 80-minute stint in that game so perhaps that is his ticket back to the senior squad this Saturday when the Eredivisie side host Sparta Rotterdam in Amsterdam.
In any case, it looks like Benitez did very well to get £4 million based on how he has struggled since returning to the Netherlands and although it isn’t a huge amount of money in modern football, Newcastle only spent an average of around £7 million per transfer in the summer so relatively speaking it is not bad at all.
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