West Ham United reject Sebastien Haller is already making a “huge impact” at Ajax, coach Erik Ten Hag has told AD.
The Frenchman may not have flopped in the manner of Mido, Benni McCarthy or Marco Borriello in claret and blue but, after paying a club-record £45 million fee, the Hammers certainly expected better than ten goals in 48 Premier League games.
Following 18 underwhelming months at the London Stadium, Haller was sold to Ajax in a cut-price £20 million deal last week.
But it took the former Utrecht ace just 20 minutes to make his mark back in Holland, setting up Antony’s goal in a 2-2 draw with fellow Eredivisie giants PSV Eindhoven.
If it wasn’t for that pesky Video Assistant Referee, Haller might have marked his debut with a goal too.
“He didn’t know five days ago he was going to Ajax and has only trained twice,” said a clearly thrilled Ten Hag, who worked with Haller at Utrecht.
“But you saw his huge impact on the squad. He also let his fellow players play better football. Too bad he was just offside when he scored (a goal ruled out by VAR).
“But he has proven his worth.”
Haller plundered 41 goals in 82 matches for Utrecht between 2015 and 2017.
A forward of his quality is certainly capable of taking Dutch football by storm – especially in an Ajax side with creativity coming out of its ears.
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