West Ham United reportedly wanted Joel Veltman this summer.
Ajax director of football Marc Overmars has told the club’s official website that a club were ‘serious’ about signing defender Joel Veltman.
Veltman, 27, may not grab headlines like Matthijs de Ligt or Frenkie de Jong, but he’s another player who has come up through the Ajax ranks.
The defender – who plays at right back or centre back – only managed 14 appearances in all competitions last season, having missed a chunk of the campaign with a major knee injury.
Veltman came back in the second half of last season and has already played eight times this season, but he seemingly had a chance to leave Ajax this summer.
Overmars claims that an unnamed club were ‘serious’ about signing Veltman, but Ajax simply couldn’t let the Dutch international go because they were worried about being caught short with injuries.
“It was too dangerous to let him go,” said Overmars. “I understand it was a shame for him, because there was a club that was serious about signing him, but the risk was too great that if something happened, he would also be gone,” he added.
Many will be wondering just who that club was, and West Ham United seems to be a pretty solid guess after reports from the Netherlands over the summer.
De Telegraaf reported that West Ham made contact with Veltman about a move to the London Stadium, but no move materialised as Ajax stood firm.
Veltman is out of contract at the end of the season, so it could be a smart move to target him again in 2020, adding him to Manuel Pellegrini’s options when Pablo Zabaleta moves on at the end of his deal.
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