Tottenham icon Rafael van der Vaart has stated that Ajax could regret signing Steven Bergwijn this summer due to how the move has unbalanced the squad for the new season.
Speaking to Studio Voetbal via Voetbal Primeur, the former White Hart Lane hero predicted that Ajax’s reported £26m signing from Tottenham could go poorly given how many attacking options the Dutch side now have on their books who will be looking to start this season.
Ajax kicked off the Eredivise season this Saturday with a 3-2 win against Fortuna Sittard, with Bergwijn starting out on the left in what was the winger’s second professional appearance for the Amsterdam giants, with the attacker expected to play a big role for Alfred Schreuder’s side this campaign.
Bergwijn was a superstar for PSV Eindhoven before moving to Tottenham in January 2020, and the attacker could play a huge part in Ajax retaining the Dutch title this season as well as going one step further in the UEFA Champions League, with Erik Ten Hag taking the club to the Round of 16 last year.
Indeed, Bergwijn has all the hallmarks of becoming a great Ajax player, but for Van der Vaart, the summer signing from Tottenham could cause problems with the system as well as overall mood in the squad, with some big-name players likely to miss out on regular game time this campaign.
This weekend alone saw fellow summer arrival Brian Brobbey start on the bench with Francisco Conceicao also sitting on the sidelines with Bergwijn in the XI, and for Van der Vaart, problems like this could cause issues with some players at the 39-year-old’s boyhood club.
The Tottenham hero said: “I think there hasn’t been a good purchase. You create problems. Of course, you have to play Bergwijn, but you also have to play Tadic, Brobbey you have to play, Berghuis has done well so you have to play him. Ajax has saddled itself with a problem. I think you always have to work towards a fixed formation.”
Ajax signing Tottenham outcast Bergwijn could be a masterstroke
Signing any player has the potential to cause problems in the squad, as Van der Vaart has stated, though when it comes to Bergwijn at Ajax, there’s a strong chance that the forward has the potential to become one of the club’s best players in recent years if he hits the ground running.
After all, Ajax took Premier League outcasts such as Dusan Tadic and Sebastien Haller and transformed them into some of the best players in Europe, and the same could well happen for Bergwijn, who has arrived in Amsterdam at a much earlier stage in his career and with the determination to shine in his homeland.
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